Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Bibliographic Review 2004 Michel Valladon Laboratoire de Mécanismes des Transferts en Géologie, CNRS, 14 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France e-mail: valladon@lmtg.obs-mip.fr Summary As is now routine, the GGR bibliographic review covers developments in analytical methods used in geoanalysis, as well as developments in reference materials. In 2004, as elaborated below, the relative number of papers dealing with techniques and developments increased notably. The trends pointed out in last year's review (Valladon 2004) are confirmed by the significant number of review papers published in analytical chemistry journals. However, despite a higher number of reviewed publications compared to last year, the number of data is significantly lower. This may be explained, mainly, by the following reasons: (1) the interest in (and the need for) reference materials for environmental research is still increasing, but only very few elements are needed; (2) the necessity of quality control for the publication of results is now more prevalent in the analytical part of research papers, but many authors present their results only as a relative comparison of their data to the certified or recommended ones. It is also interesting to update the considerations presented in the last year's review: - laser ablation coupled with ICP-MS is the major contributor of new data, - MC-ICP-MS is now providing many isotopic ratios on "classical" geological reference materials, - chemical separations are still developed for many elements, in laboratories using mono-element techniques, - characterisation of existing certified reference materials for uncertified elements are often presented when systematic analysis are needed, - there is an increasing number of data for organo-metallic compounds or speciation, showing the need of a better characterisation of the materials, - the increasing part of environmental use and need of reference materials. Received 17 Nov 05 - Accepted 12 Dec 05 Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Vol. 29 No. 3 pp. 339-371 (2005) Return to Contents list | Index Volume 29 Return to main page Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research Copyright   © Association Scientifique pour la Géologie et ses Applications Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.