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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Graham Purvis, Emeritus Professor Neil GrayORCiD, Dr Naoko Sano, Dr Anders Barlow, Dr Geoffrey AbbottORCiD, Dr Cees van der Land, Professor Peter Cumpson
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The organic matter within rocks contains chemical and isotopic evidence of its provenance, including information on past and extant life. Such information could further the understanding of life on the early Earth and yield evidence of the existence of past life on Mars. However, the collection of geological samples and subsequent transfer to analytical facilities possibly via long-term storage provides ample opportunity for organic contamination from a variety of sources prior to analysis. Erroneous assignment of organic contamination as authentic indigenous organic material is a significant issue in any geological specimen, but is exacerbated in rocks containing trace levels. This investigation evaluated two decontamination methods for geological samples, namely, the recently developed gas cluster ion beam etching, which supersedes monoatomic sputter etching, and ultra violet/ozone cleaning. Decontamination evaluation involved removal of intentionally applied organic contamination applied to basalt which initially possessed only trace levels of indigenous organic material. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to measure contaminant removal. Both techniques are suitable for removing organic contamination during the preparation of geological samples.
Author(s): Purvis G, Gray N, Sano N, Barlow A, Cockell C, Abbott GD, van der Land C, Cumpson P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Chemical Geology
Year: 2017
Volume: 466
Pages: 256-262
Print publication date: 05/09/2017
Online publication date: 23/06/2017
Acceptance date: 14/06/2017
Date deposited: 25/08/2017
ISSN (print): 0009-2541
ISSN (electronic): 1872-6836
Publisher: Elsevier BV
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.06.016
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.06.016
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