Volcanic glass under fire – a comparison of three complementary analytical methods

The two obsidian sources from the island of Melos (Greece), Agia Nychia and Demenegakion, are chemically characterized by three complementary analytical techniques. Ion beam analysis (IBA) comprising particle induced X‐ray emission and particle induced gamma‐ray emission, neutron activation analysis (NAA) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) is applied to the same set of geological obsidian samples.

The combination of methods allows a more complete characterization of obsidian sources and reveals a highly specific chemical composition, the so‐called chemical fingerprint. This multi‐methodical approach checks also the self‐consistency of the analytical results and shows not only the most reliable and characteristic key elements Co and Sc but also Fe, Ca and Ti of Melos obsidian deposits. NAA contributes the largest number of reliable elements to the most unambiguous chemical fingerprint comprising in total of 41 elements. Therefore, NAA is the most suitable analytical method for a clear identification of Melos obsidian deposits.

Moreover, the accuracy of methods is demonstrated by the excellent correspondences (calculated correlation coefficient R² = 1.00 for IBA and NAA, R² = 0.99 for LA‐ICP‐MS) between determined analytical results obained by IBA, NAA and LA‐ICP‐MS and certified values of the reference glass BAM‐S005B. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.