Optimizing k0-NAA with different irradiation regimes for analysis of coral skeleton as a potential climate proxy indicator
摘要
The elemental composition of coral skeletons supplies essential information about palaeoceanographic reconstructions. The present work aims to optimize the neutron activation analysis (NAA) protocol for determining Ca-substituting elements in coral skeletons, which can be considered as a potential indicator for reconstructing past climate variability. Conventional and epithermal NAA schemes have been applied to determine 22 elements. The results reveal that the use of epithermal NAA significantly improved the limits of detection, up to 10 times, for specific elements, e.g. As, Ba, Cd, Mn, Sr, etc. The Compton suppression counting regime yielded an additional improvement in the limits of detection.