Simultaneous collection of 87Sr/86Sr and trace-element data in otoliths and other sclerochronological hard structures [article]

Jens C Hegg, Christopher M Fisher
2020 bioRxiv   pre-print
Chronological data from hard structures has been instrumental in reconstructing information about the past across numerous disciplines. Isotopic and trace elemental chronologies from the depositional layers of speleothems, corals, bivalve shells, fish otoliths and other structures are routinely used to reconstruct climate, growth, temperature, geological, archeological and migratory histories. Advances in instrumentation have revolutionized the use of these structures and publications detailing
more » ... new chemical and isotopic methods in sclerochronology and speleothem chronology have steadily increased in number. This is particularly true of fish, in which detailed origin, life-history, and migration history can be reconstructed from their otoliths. Specifically, improvements in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) have allowed increases temporal resolution, precision, and sample throughput. Many studies now combine multiple chemical and isotopic tracers, taking advantage of multivariate statistical methods and multiple tracep-element and isotope systems to glean further information from individual samples. This paper describes a novel laser ablation split-stream (LASS) method which allows simultaneous collection of 87Sr/86Sr and trace-elemental data from chronological carbonate samples. The study tests the accuracy and precision of multiple laser spot sizes on a marine shell standard and fish otoliths using LASS and traditional single stream methods and compared to prior otolith data on the same samples. Our results indicate that LASS techniques can be used to provide accurate and precise data at useful laser spot sizes for otolith studies, while providing time and integration-matched data reduction using newly developed features for the Iolite data reduction platform.
doi:10.1101/2020.04.24.060640 fatcat:ic2v7yrnhfgufirp6k3zdj3gtq