News
27.01.2025New protocol for the determination of minor and trace elements in chromospinels by electron microprobe
Dr. Xavier Llovet, head of the Electron Microprobe laboratory of the CCiTUB, in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology of University of Barcelona and the Department of Mineralogy and Petrology of University of Granada, has participated in a study to develop a protocol for determining the concentration of the minor and trace elements in chrome-spinels using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA).
The study, published in the Chemical Geology Journal, enables the characterization of Chrome-spinel grains that are inhomogeneous at the micrometric scale, achieving detection limits of 4-26 ppm.
The composition of the minor and trace elements in these types of minerals is fundamental to interpret the petrogenesis of a broad group of mafic and ultramafic rocks.
Advances like this in microanalysis techniques will be shared soon at the European Worskhop on Modern developments and Applications in Microbeam Analysis (EMAS-2025) congress organized by the European Microbeam Analysis Society in collaboration with University of Barcelona, which will take place from May 11 to 15, 2025 at the Tecnocampus in Mataró, with Dr. X. Llovet serving as the president of the organizing and scientific committee. The full EMAS 2025 programme can be found here.
Reference article
Diego Domínguez-Carretero, Xavier Llovet, Núria Pujol-Solà, Cristina Villanova-de-Benavent, Joaquín A. Proenza «Accurate electron probe microanalysis of key petrogenetic minor and trace elements in Cr-spinel». Chemical Geology, Volume 674, 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122579
Related information
The study utilized the JEOL JXA-8230 equipment from the Electron Microprobe Laboratory at CCiTUB, recently upgraded with a new state-of-the-art soft X-ray emission spectrometer.