Chemical analysis of obsidian by a SIMS/EDX combined system

A recently built combined EDX–SIMS system was used for a quantitative standardless analysis of obsidians. By using the novel scheme of analysis described in the paper, concentrations of 47 elements were measured. The range of concentrations analyzed varied by up to 8 orders of magnitude, from 1015 atoms/cm3 to 1023 atoms/cm3, which cannot be attained by any other analytical method based on electron or X-ray irradiations. The experimentally measured concentrations were compared with the data of XRF analysis: the data proved to differ in less than a factor of two for the majority of elements. The technique we suggest can be used to analyze almost any solid material.