Exploration of 10Be analysis using 10 μg of Be carrier

A 10Be analysis using only 10 μg of commercially available Be carrier was explored using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) at the Micro Analysis Laboratory, Tandem accelerator, The University of Tokyo. A combination of sample pretreatment and AMS analysis dedicated to this limited-carrier experiment enabled us to achieve reproducible measurements linear up to 10−14 (10Be/9Be ratio). Using this method we determined an order of 105 atoms g−110Be concentrations in sub-gram natural quartz samples taken from low (0.5-1 km) altitudes in Asian mid to high latitudes, and with apparent 10Be ages of 10-60 ka. Concentrations determined with the limited-carrier analysis were fairly consistent with those of previous ordinary analysis with tens of grams of quartz. Therefore, 10Be analysis using 10 μg of Be carrier was demonstrated for natural samples with an order of 105 atoms g−1, with an error of about 10%.