A rapid and reliable method for Pb isotopic analysis of peat and lichens by laser ablation-quadrupole-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry for biomonitoring and sample screening

An analytical protocol for rapid and reliable laser ablation-quadrupole (LA-Q)- and multi-collector (MC-) inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis of Pb isotope ratios (²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb) in peats and lichens is developed. This technique is applicable to source tracing atmospheric Pb deposition in biomonitoring studies and sample screening. Reference materials and environmental samples were dry ashed and pressed into pellets for introduction by laser ablation. No binder was used to reduce contamination. LA-MC-ICP-MS internal and external precisions were <1.1% and <0.3%, respectively, on both ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios. LA-Q-ICP-MS internal precisions on ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁶Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁶Pb ratios were lower with values for the different sample sets <14.3% while external precisions were <2.9%. The level of external precision acquired in this study is high enough to distinguish between most modern Pb sources. LA-MC-ICP-MS measurements differed from thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) values by 1% or less while the accuracy obtained using LA-Q-ICP-MS compared to solution MC-ICP-MS was 3.1% or better using a run bracketing (RB) mass bias correction method. Sample heterogeneity and detector switching when measuring ²⁰⁸Pb by Q-ICP-MS are identified as sources of reduced analytical performance.