Determination of iron in seawater by high-resolution isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after Mg(OH)2 coprecipitation Original Research Article

A simple, accurate and highly sensitive method has been developed for determining the concentration of Fe in seawater. The technique applies the low-blank Mg(OH)2 coprecipitation method of Wu and Boyle [Anal. Chem. 69 (1997) 2464–2470] to preconcentrate Fe from seawater, and uses isotope dilution high-resolution ICPMS detection to ensure accuracy and enable high sensitivity. This method has been used to determine Fe concentrations as low as 0.085 nM Fe (1σ=0.019 nM) in a 14 ml-seawater sample. We achieved a 3σ detection limit of 0.05–0.06 nM for 14 ml-sample size and 0.162 nM for 1.4 ml-sample size. With 14 ml-sample size procedure, the Fe signal at 0.085 nM level is more than 10 times above ICPMS instrumental Fe blank and the procedural Fe blanks are due mainly to Fe contamination during sample preparation. The precision of the method is 3–5% at 0.18–0.31 nM Fe level. The technique is demonstrated by oceanographically consistent profiles of Fe in the eastern north Atlantic and in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda.