Determination of tungsten in geochemical reference material basalt Columbia River 2 by radiochemical neutron activation analysis and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Determination of environmental tungsten (W) is inhibited by a lack of reference materials and practical methods to remove isobaric and radiometric interferences. We present a method that evaluates the potential use of commercially available sediment, Basalt Columbia River-2 (BCR-2), as a quality control standard for W. Tungsten concentrations determined using neutron activation analysis (NAA) and mass spectrometry are in statistical agreement at the significance level alpha = 0.05 (92 +/- 4 ng g(-1) for NAA and 100 +/- 7 ng g(-1) for mass spectrometry). These results indicate that BCR-2 may be suitable as a quality control standard for future studies.