Preconcentration of lead,cadmium, copper and zinc in water at the pg g−1 level by non-boiling evaporation

An evaluation of the non-boiling evaporation technique for the preconcentration of Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn at the pg g^?1 level in water samples is presented. Various improvements were made to allow efficient control of contamination problems at these extremely low concentrations. They include the choice of FEP Teflon for the evaporation containers and the use of sophisticated cleaning, ageing and pre-conditionning procedures. Detailed calibration graphs were obtained down to the sub-pg g^?1 level by processing ultra-low concentration standards. This technique was then applied to the determination of these four metals in snow samples collected in Greenland and Antarctica.