The world's first continental-scale, partial digestion geochemical dataset: Mobile Metal Ion® analysis of Australian soils  

Authors / CoAuthors

de Caritat, P. | Mann, A. | Prince, P.

Abstract

The National Geochemical Survey of Australia (NGSA) project (www.ga.gov.au/ngsa) was part of Geoscience Australia's Onshore Energy Security Program 2006-2011 and was carried out in collaboration with the geological surveys of all States and the Northern Territory. It delivered (1) Australia's first national geochemical atlas, (2) an underpinning geochemical database, and (3) a series of reports. Catchment outlet sediments (similar to floodplain sediments in most cases) were sampled in 1186 catchments covering ~80% of the country (average sample density 1 sample per 5500 km2). Samples were collected at 2 depths each sieved to 2 grain size fractions. Chemical analyses carried out on the samples fall into 3 main categories: (1) total (using mainly XRF and total digestion ICP-MS), (2) aqua regia, and (3) Mobile Metal Ion® (MMI) element contents. The MMI analyses were conducted on the surface (0-10 cm) samples sieved to <2 mm, in one single batch, by ICP-MS. Concentrations of 54 elements (Ag, Al, As, Au, Ba, Bi, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Dy, Er, Eu, Fe, Ga, Gd, Hg, K, La, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Nb, Nd, Ni, P, Pb, Pd, Pr, Pt, Rb, Sb, Sc, Se, Sm, Sn, Sr, Ta, Tb, Te, Th, Ti, Tl, U, V, W, Y, Yb, Zn and Zr) were determined. Maps and quality assessment of these data are presented in reports available from the project website. Preliminary interpretations of the MMI dataset suggest that it potentially has significant value in geological, mineral exploration and agronomic (e.g., bioavailability) applications.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

73407

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Keywords

• External PublicationAbstract

( Theme )

• regolith

( Theme )

• geochemistry

( Theme )

• mineral exploration

( Theme )

• environmental

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Earth Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2012-02-08T00:00:00

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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

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unknown

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geoscientificInformation

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Extents

[-44.0, -10.0, 112.0, 154.0]

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