Application of Avaatech X-ray fluorescence core-scanning in Sr/Ca analysis of speleothems

Dong Li, Liangcheng Tan, Fei Guo, Yanjun Cai, Youbin Sun, Gang Xue, Xing Cheng, Hong Yan, Hai Cheng, R. Lawrence Edwards, Yongli Gao, Jessica Kelley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Application of X-ray fluorescence core-scanning (XRF-CS) on both marine and lake sediments has achieved remarkable results. However, its application has not been widely extended to the research on speleothems. In this study, we measure the Sr abundance and the Sr/Ca ratios of three stalagmites (two aragonite stalagmites, one calcite stalagmite) using the state-of-the-art fourth-generation Avaatech high-resolution XRF core scanner. Through comparisons among different scan paths and among different scan resolutions, as well as comparisons with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES), Itrax XRF, and Artax XRF results, we confirm that the Avaatech XRF core scanner could precisely, quickly, and nondestructively analyze the high-resolution Sr abundance of speleothems. Furthermore, we combine the stalagmite δ18O records to explore the paleoclimatic significance of the measured stalagmite Sr/Ca.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)964-973
Number of pages10
JournalScience China Earth Sciences
Volume62
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019.

Keywords

  • Avaatech XRF
  • Paleoclimate
  • Speleothem
  • Sr/Ca

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