Laser Ablation – Cavity Ring Down Spectrometry, a new method for the in-situ analysis of δ13C of organic and inorganic carbonates

Elemental analyzers (EA) are the go-to sample introduction instrument for light stable isotope analyses of solid materials. Sample preparation is labor intensive and time consuming, with high associated consumable and equipment cost. Sample recovery is impossible in case of malfunctioning, i.e., no repeat analysis when sample amount is restricted.

In the same way, Laser ablation (LA) is traditionally considered a sample introduction technique for Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS) where plasma-based instrumentation will ionize and measure with a high degree of accuracy and precision the aerosol generated during the ablation process.

In this contribution we present an innovative method of measuring C stable isotopic ratios of carbonates by hyphening two instruments that are not usually found in the same lab. We coupled a laser ablation system (Teledyne Photon Machines Fusions CO2) equipped with a specially designed ablation chamber (Terra Analitic isoScell Δ100) to a Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (Picarro G2201-i) to perform spatially resolved, highly accurate and precise measurements of both inorganic (stalagmite) and bioaccumulated (freshwater bivalve) carbonate samples. This novel system requires minimal sample preparation, allows for in-situ sequential and repeat sampling, all while eliminating the need to individually prepare samples.