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Finnigan Neptune MC-ICP-MS

The Department of Geology at Washington State University is equipped with a ThermoFinnigan Neptune MC-ICPMS. The Neptune is a doubly focusing, plasma source multicollector mass spectrometer that offers high elemental sensitivities (~80V/ppm Hf at an aspiration rate of 0.05 ml/min). The Neptune has nine movable Faraday collectors and one high-sensitivity ion-counting electron multiplier. This collector configuration has wide-ranging utility in measuring high precision isotope ratios in a variety of isotopic systems. We are routinely measuring isotope ratios for the radiogenic isotope systems Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, and Pb and the heavy stable isotope systems Cu, Fe, and Mo.

To support the Neptune, we have a HEPA-filtered 900 ft3 ~class 1000 clean laboratory that is used to perform chemical separations of Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd, Rb-Sr, U-Th-Pb, and HFSE using column chromatography. The clean lab is full service with low-blank distilled water, quartz and Savillex stills for generating low-blank HCl, HNO3, and HF acids, calibrated mixed Lu-Hf, Sm-Nd, and Rb-Sr spikes, and ion-exchange columns for Lu-Hf, Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Th-Pb, and HFSE separations.