Geochemical reference materials (GRMs) are natural materials such as minerals, ores and rocks, which are sufficiently homogeneous and available in sufficient quantity to be used as reference standards in geochemical analysis of minerals, ores or rocks of unknown elemental abundances. When choosing GRMs, an analyst tries to match the unknown materials closely to ensure the highest accuracy possible in the analysis of the unknown materials. This article explains where to find GRMs, how a new GRM is prepared, how they are studied and evaluated for ‘best values’ for each elemental concentration and what problems might exist in the reference standards. The main source of information on most aspects of GRMs is the journal Geostandards Newsletter.
Geoanalysts had an early start in the preparation and study of geochemical reference materials, thanks to a collaborative study on two rock standards in 1951 (US Geological Survey Bulletin 980). This study demonstrated large analytical...
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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Govindaraju, K. (1998). Geochemical reference materials. In: Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_138
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4496-8_138
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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