LA-ICP-MS is a technique capable of analyzing a large number of elements simultaneously at the ppm/ppb range. Solids are analysed using a laser ablation microscope, which can produce spots or lines in the sample down to about 10 um. This offers slightly lower spatial resolution relative to the SEM or Electron Microprobe but has detection limits many orders of magnitude lower. Because of the use of a mass spectrometer, possible interferences are much more readily detected by checking isotopic ratios.
In order to get a quantitative elemental analysis, usually the concentration of one element has to be analysed by another method, typically by electron microprobe analysis which is also available in the department.
Browse the table below for more information about the ICP-MS systems and bookings:
The LA-ICPMS laboratory consists of an NWR 193 UC laser ablation system and an Agilent 7900 quadrupole mass spectrometer. The laboratory was optimized to provide exceptional performance for the analysis of fluid inclusions and silicate melt inclusions in minerals; however, it provides top performance for the analysis of a very broad range of materials. Other typical application areas include the in situ determination of trace and major element composition of minerals, U-Pb dating of zircons and other accessory minerals, trace element mapping, depth profiling, characterization of the composition of non-geologic materials from material, engineering and life sciences.
The laboratory is open to external users. For additional information, please email Dr. Colin Bray.
The Excimer Laser ICP-MS is located in B167. View the room booking calendar.
The current fee structure (in $ per hour) is found below:
| Users | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|
| Department of Earth Sciences members | $100 |
| Other University of Toronto members | $115 |
| Academic Collaborative | $100 |
| Academic Non-Collaborative | $150 |
| Government (user operated) | $150 |
| Industry (user operated) | $200 |
| Government (Earth Sciences staff operated) | $225 |
| Industry (Earth Sciences staff operated) | Please inquire |
Important notes for booking:
- There is a 2-hour minimum booking period.
- Technical support will be provided for instrument start-up and tuning for all users.
- Cancellations made <24 hours before the booking time will be charged for 2 hours at the applicable rate.
- User training with our qualified technical staff is available free-of-charge.
Below is a list of several publications from past research at the LA-ICP-MS facilities.
Baudette, M., Ross, P.-S., Davis, D. No longer an arc: the Parent Group, a newly recognized component of the 1.88 Ga Circum-Superior large igneous province, Quebec, Canada. Precambrian Research, in press.
Wang, L., Lin, S., Xiao, W., Hanchar, J., Collins, W., Davis, D., Yakymchuk, C., Xing, G., Niu, Z., Xiang, D., and Staal, C. Identifying and characterizing missing source orogens for syn-orogenic basins based on accessary mineral U-Pb detrital geochronology. Submitted to Geology, Jan 1, 2024.
Rochín-Bañaga, H., Davis, D. W., Schwennicke, T. and Cisneros, E. H. Age Constraints on Marine-Fluvial Deposits at Rancho La Palma, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Submitted to the Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Aug. 8, 2023.
Rochín-Bañaga, H., Gastaldo, R., Davis, D. W., Neveling, J., Kamo, S., Looy, C., and Geisman, J. 2024. U‒Pb dating of pedogenic calcite near the Permian-Triassic boundary, Karoo Basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 136, 1689-1700.
Rochín-Bañaga, H., Davis, D. W. and Moysiuk, J. 2024. U–Pb dating of Belemnites and Rugose corals: The potential for absolute dating of calcitic invertebrate fossils. Chemical Geology, 644, 121862.
Rochín-Bañaga, H., and Davis, D. W. 2023. Insights into U-Th-Pb mobility during diagenesis from laser ablation U–Pb dating of apatite fossils. Chemical Geology, 618, 121290.
Zhang, Y., Yin, C., Davis, D. W., Xiao, W., Qian, J., Zhang, J., Gao, P., Wu, S., Li, W., and Xia, Y. 2023. Mechanism of crustal thickening and exhumation of southern Lhasa terrane during the Late Cretaceous: Evidence from high-pressure metamorphic rocks of the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis. GSA Bulletin, 35, 608-620.
Li, X., Yin, C., Gao P., Davis, D. W., Li, S., Zhang, J., Qian, J. and Zhang, Y. 2022. Petrogenesis and tectonic implications of Eocene-Oligocene potassic felsic porphyries in the Sanjiang Region, southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 232, 105209.
Davis, D. W., Barr, S. M. and White, C. E. 2022. Constraints on the age of Archaeozoon acadiense and evidence for hydrothermally transported zircon in the Ashburn Formation (Green Head Group), Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2021-0100.
Bedard, E., Fleury, J.-P., Beaudoin, G., Guilmette, C., Goutier, J., Huot, F. and Davis, D. 2021. The La Pointe gold deposit, a disseminated orogenic gold deposit at the contact between the La Grande and Opinaca subprovinces, Eeyou Istchee Baie-James, Québec, Canada. Ore Geology Reviews, in press.
*Charette., B., Godet. A., Guilmette, C., Davis, D. W., Kendal, B. and Vervoort, J., Kendall B., Lafrance, I., Bandyayera D., and Yakymchuk C. 2021. Long-lived anatexis in the exhumed middle crust of the Torngat Orogen: Constraints from phase equilibria modeling and garnet, zircon, and monazite geochronology. Lithos, 388-389 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2021.106022.
Davis, D.W. and Rochin-Banaga, H. 2021. A new Bayesian approach toward improved regression of low-count U–Pb geochronology data generated by LA-ICPMS. Chemical Geology, 582 120454, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.
*Godet, A., Guilmette, C., Labrousse, L., Matthijs, A., Smit, J. A. Cutts, Davis, D.W. and Vanier, M.A. 2021. Lu–Hf garnet dating and the timing of collisions: Palaeoproterozoic accretionary tectonics revealed in the Southeastern Churchill Province, Trans‐Hudson Orogen, Canada. Journal of Metamorphic Petrology, https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12599
*Greenough, J. D., Kamo, S.L., Davis, D.W., Larson, K., Zhang, Z., Layton-Matthews, D., De Vera, J. and Bergquist, B. 2021. Old subcontinental mantle zircon below Oahu. Communications Earth and Environment, (2021) 2:189 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00261-0
*Koglin, N., Läufer, A., Piepjohn, K., Henjes-Kunst, F., von Gosen, W., Gerdes, A., Davis, D. W., Linnemann, U., and Estrada, S. 2021. Palaeozoic sedimentation and Caledonian terrane architecture in northwest Svalbard: Indications from U–Pb geochronology and structural analysis. Journal of the Geological Society of London, 27 pp., doi.org/10.1144/jgs2021-053.
Rochín-Bañaga, H., Davis, D. W. and Schwennicke, T. 2021. First U-Pb dating of fossilized soft tissue toward practical paleontological chronometry. Geology 49: 1027–1031, https://doi.org/10.1130/G48386.1
*Charles, C.R.J., McCausland, P.J.A. and Davis, D.W. 2020. LA-ICP-MS Pb isotope test of meteorite provenance: A Terrestrial Origin for Lovina. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 1-10, doi: 10.1111/maps.13492-3296.
*Cleven, N.R., Guilmette, C., Davis, D. W. and Côté-Roberge, M. 2020. Geodynamic significance of Neoarchean metasedimentary belts in the Superior Province: detrital zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS geochronology of the Opinaca and La Grande subprovinces. Precambrian Research, 347 105819 doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105819.
Davis, D. W., Sutcliffe, C. N. and Cruden, A. C. 2020. Comment on Geochronology of calcite-filled joints, southeast Canada: Insight into Late Cretaceous deformation of eastern North America by Jennifer Spalding, David A. Schneider and Julie Brown Terra Nova. 2020;00:1–9. Terra Nova https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12511.
Davis D.W., Sutcliffe, C. N, Thibodeau, A.M., Cruden, A., Adams, J., Parmenter, A., Jensen, M., and Zajacz, Z. 2020. Hydrochronology of a proposed deep geological repository for nuclear waste in southern Ontario from U-Pb dating of secondary minerals: Response to Taconic and Cretaceous events. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2020, 57(4): 464-476, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0004
*Eslami, A., Malvoisin, B., Giovanni, G., Aradi, L. E., Marches, C., Cavallo, A., Montanini, A., Borghini, G., Mathur, R., Ikehata, K., Davis, D. and Li, C.-H. 2020. Native copper formation associated with serpentinization in the Cheshmeh-Bid Ophiolite Massif (Southern Iran). Lithos 382–383: 105953.
*Feng, L., Lin, S., Davis, D., Song, C., Li, J., Ren, S., Han, X., Ge, Y. and Lu, K. 2020. Constraints on the tectonic evolution of the Southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt from the Early Permian-middle Triassic granitoid rocks from the central Dunhuang orogenic belt, NW China. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 194: 104283.
*Godet, A., Guilmette, C., Labrousse, L., Smit, M., Davis, D.W., Raimondo, T., Vanier, M.-A., Charette, B. and Lafrance, I. 2020. Contrasting P-T-t paths reveal a metamorphic discontinuity in the New Quebec Orogen: Insights into Paleoproterozoic orogenic processes. Precambrian Research, 342: 105675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2020.105675.
Heck, P and 28 others. 2020. The fall, recovery, classification and initial characterization of the Hamburg, Michigan H4 Chondrite. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 55 (11): 2341–2359.
*Wu, S., Yin, C., Davis, D. W., Zhang, J., Qian, ,J., Qiao1, H., Xia, Y., and Jingna, L. 2020. Metamorphic evolution of high-pressure felsic and politic granulites from the Qianlishan Complex and tectonic implications for the Khondalite Belt, North China Craton. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 132 (11/12): 2253–2266. https://doi.org/10.1130/B35502.1
Sutcliffe, C. N, Thibodeau, A.M., Davis D.W., Ihsan, A., Parmenter, A., Zajacz, Z. and Jensen, M. 2020. Hydrochronology of a proposed deep geological repository for nuclear waste in southern Ontario from U-Pb dating of secondary minerals: Response to Alleghanian events. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2020, 57(4): 494-505, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2019-0005
*Van Rythoven, A. D., Schultz, D. J. and Davis, D.W. 2020. Ultramafic xenoliths from the 1.15 Ga Certac kimberlite, eastern Superior Craton. Canadian Mineralogist 58 (2): 267–286.
*Wu, S., Yin, C., Davis, D., Zhang, J., Qian, J., Qiao, H. and Xia, Y. 2020. Metamorphic evolution of high-pressure felsic and pelitic granulites from the Qianlishan Complex and tectonic implications for the Khondalite Belt, North China Craton. GSA Bulletin, published online 16 March 2020: https://doi.org/10.1130/B35502.1.
*Aschwanden, L., Diamond, L.W., Mazurek, M., Davis, D., Sutcliffe, Chelsea. 2019. Creation of secondary porosity in dolostones by upwelling basement water in the foreland of the alpine orogen. Geofluids, Volume 2019, Article ID 5210404, 23 pages, https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/5210404
*Godet, A., Guilmette, C., Labrousse, L., Davis, D. W., Smit, M. A., Cutts, J. A., Vanier, M.-A., Lafrance, I., and Charette, B. 2019. Complete metamorphic cycle and long lived anatexis in the ~2.1 Ga Mistinibi Complex, Canada. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12521.
*Cleven, N.R., Lin, S, Xiao, W., Davis, D.W. and Davis, W.J. 2018. Successive arc accretion in the southern Central Asian orogenic belt, NW China: Evidence from two Paleozoic arcs with offset magmatic periods. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 130: 537-557.
*Feng, L., Lin, S.. Davis, D. W., van Staal, C. , Song, C., Lia, L., Lia, J., and Ren, S. 2018. Dunhuang Tectonic Belt in northwestern China as a part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt: Structural and U-Pb geochronological evidence. Tectonophysics, 747-748: 281-297.
*Hill, C.M., Davis, D.W. and Corcoran, P.L. 2018. New U-Pb geochronology evidence for 2.3 Ga detrital zircon grains in the youngest Huronian Supergroup formations, Canada. Precambrian Research, 314: 428-433.
*Lin, S., Xing, G., Davis, D.W., Yin, C, Wu, M., Li, L., Fang, H., Jiang, Y. and Chen, Z. 2018. Appalachian-style multi-terrane Wilson cycle model for the assembly of South China. Geology 46: 319-322.
*Mazurek, M., Davis, D.W., Madritsch, H., Rufer, D., Villa, I., Sutcliffe, C.N., de Haller, A. and Traber, D. 2018. Veins in clay-rich aquitards as records of deformation and fluid-flow events in northern Switzerland. Applied Geochemistry, 95: 57-70.
Pagel, M., Bonifacie, M., Schneider, D.A,, Gautheron, C.; Brigaud, B., Calmels, D, Cros, A, Saint-Bezar, B, Landrein, P., Sutcliffe, C, Davis, D. and Chaduteau, C. 2018. Improving paleohydrological and diagenetic reconstructions in calcite veins and breccia of a sedimentary basin by combining Δ47 temperature, δ18Owater and U-Pb age. Chemical Geology 481: 1-17.
*Zhou, R., Schoenbohm, L.N., Sobel, E.R., Davis, D.W. and Glodny, J. 2017. New constraints on orogenic models of the southern Central Andean Plateau: Cenozoic basin evolution and bedrock exhumation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 129: 152-170.
*Cleven, N.R., Lin, S, Davis, D.W., Xiao, W. and Guilmette, C. 2016 Elucidating tectonic processes and events from variably tectonized conglomerate clast-detrital geochronology: examples from the Hongliuhe Formation in the southern Central Asian Orogenic Belt, NW China. Tectonics 35: 1626-41.
*Elling, F.J., Spiegel, C., Estrada, S., Davis, D.W., Reinhardt, L., Henjes-Kunst, F., Allroggen, N., Dohrmann, R., Piepjohn, K., Lisker, F. 2016. Origin of bentonites and clastic sediments of the Paleocene Basilika Formation, Svalbard. Frontiers in Earth Sciences July 2016, Volume 4, Article 73, 23p.
*Zhou, R., Schoenbohm, L.N., Sobel, E.R., Carrapa, B. and Davis, D.W. 2016. Sedimentary record of regional deformation and dynamics of the thick-skinned southern Altiplano-Puna Plateau (26-27°S). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 433: 317-325.
*Schulze, D., Davis, D., Helmstaedt, H. 2015. Timing of the Cenozoic "Great Hydration" event beneath the Colorado Plateau: Th-Pb dating of monazite in Navajo metamorphic eclogite xenoliths. Geology 43: 727-780.
*Angen, J.J., van Staal, C., Lin, S., Nelson, J. L., Mahoney, B., Davis, D.W., McLelland, W.C. and Jiang, G. 2014. Timing and kinematics of shear zone deformation in the western Coast Belt: evidence for mid‐Cretaceous orogen-parallel extension. Journal of Structural Geology 68: 273-299
*Barr, S. M., White, C. E., Davis D. W., McClelland, W. C. and van Staal, C. R. 2014. Infrastructure and provenance of Ganderia: evidence from detrital zircon ages in the Brookville terrane, southern New Brunswick, Canada. Precambrian Research, 246- 358-370.
*Li, L., Lin, S., Davis, D.W., Xiao, W., Xing, G., Yin, C., 2014. Geochronology and geochemistry of igneous rocks from the Kongling terrane: Implications for Mesoarchean to Paleoproterozoic crustal evolution of the Yangtze Block. Precambrian Research, 255: p. 30-47.
*Work done using the Plasmaquad
Bennett, N. and Brenan, J.M., Controls on the solubility of rhenium in silicate melt: Implications for the osmium isotopic composition of Earth’s mantle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Brenan, J.M., Finnigan, C.F., McDonough, W.F. and Homolova, V., Experimental constraints on the partitioning of the Ru, Rh, Ir, Pt and Pd between chromite and silicate melt: The importance of ferric iron. Chemical Geology, 302-303, pp 16-32, 2012.
Caciagli-Warman, N.C., Brenan, J.M., McDonough, W.F., and Phinney, W.C., Experimental constraints on Li partitioning and Li isotope fractionation during subduction zone dehydration. Chemical Geology, 280, pp 384-398, 2011.
Brenan, J.M. and Bennett, N. Soret, Separation of highly siderophile elements in Fe-Ni-S melts: Implications for solid metal-liquid metal partitioning. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, vol 298, pp 299-305, 2010
Brenan, J.M. and McDonough, W.F., Core formation and metal-silicate fractionation of osmium and iridium from gold. Nature Geoscience, vol 2, pp 798-801, 2009.
Rose, L.A., Brenan, J.M., Fei, Y., Secco, R.A. and Frost, D., Perspectives on Earth Differentitation from Metal-Silicate Partitioning of Te, Se, and S. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta., vol 73, 4598-4615, 2009.
Brenan, J.M., Haider, N. and Andrews, D., Experimental evaluation of liquid immiscibility in a portion of the system Fe-Ni-Cu-S using high gravitational acceleration. Economic Geology, vol 103, pp 1563-1570, 2008
Finnigan, C.S., Brenan, J.M., Mungall, J.E. and McDonough, W.F., Experiments and models bearing on the role of chromite as a collector of platinum group minerals by local reduction. Journal of Petrology, vol 49, pp 1647-1665, 2008.
Brenan, J.M., Re-Os Fractionation by sulfide-silicate partitioning: A new spin. Chemical Geology, Special Issue on Highly Siderophile Elements, vol 248, pp 140-165, 2008
*Work done using the Plasmaquad