Atmospheric dust is an integral component of the Earth system with major implications for the climate, biosphere and public health. In this context, identifying and quantifying the provenance and the processes generating the various types of dust found in the atmosphere is paramount. Isotopic signatures of Pb, Nd, Sr, Zn, Cu and Fe are commonly used as sensitive geochemical tracers. However, their combined use is limited by the lack of (a) a dedicated chromatographic protocol to separate the six elements of interest for low‐mass samples and (b) specific reference materials for dust. Indeed, our work shows that USGS rock reference materials BHVO‐2, AGV‐2 and G‐2 are not applicable as substitute reference materials for dust. We characterised the isotopic signatures of these six elements in dust reference materials ATD and BCR‐723, representatives of natural and urban environments, respectively. To achieve this, we developed a specific procedure for dust, applicable in the 4–25 mg mass range, to separate the six elements using a multi‐column ion‐exchange chromatographic method and MC‐ICP‐MS measurements.

中文翻译：

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粉尘标准物质（ATD和BCR-723）的首次多同位素（Pb-Nd-Sr-Zn-Cu-Fe）表征：一种优化的多柱色谱方法，可追踪矿物和人为的粉尘源

大气尘埃是地球系统不可或缺的组成部分，对气候，生物圈和公共健康具有重大影响。在这种情况下，识别和量化起源以及在大气中产生各种灰尘的过程至关重要。Pb，Nd，Sr，Zn，Cu和Fe的同位素特征通常用作敏感的地球化学示踪剂。但是，由于缺乏（a）专门的色谱法来分离低质量样品的六种重要成分和（b）灰尘的特定参考物质，它们的组合使用受到限制。实际上，我们的工作表明，USGS岩石参考材料BHVO-2，AGV-2和G-2不能用作粉尘的替代参考材料。我们在粉尘参考材料ATD和BCR-723中表征了这六个元素的同位素特征，自然和城市环境的代表。为实现这一目标，我们开发了一种适用于4-25 mg质量范围的特定除尘程序，使用多柱离子交换色谱法和MC-ICP-MS测量法分离六个元素。