A comparison of instrumental techniques at differentiating outcrops of Edwards Plateau chert at the local scale

This study compares two widely accepted analytical techniques, Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and Instrument Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). These techniques are compared and contrasted to determine the composition of intra-formation Edwards Plateau chert. As a case study, three unique chert outcrops only several hundred meters apart (hyper-local (Speer 2014)) at the Gault Site (41BL323) in central Texas were tested with each of the techniques. The differences of each instrumental technique on Edwards Plateau chert is assessed using the geochemical data retrieved. The geochemical data were evaluated with multivariate statistics in order to determine which instrumental technique is most effective at distinguishing between these three unique Edwards Plateau chert outcrops. This study also seeks to determine if either of the instrumental techniques can effectively separate out geochemical differences of Edwards Plateau chert outcrops.