Canadian Mineralogist Vol. 23, pp.263-271 (1985) ELECTRON.MICROPROBE ANALYSIS OF MINERALS FOR RARE.E^ARTH ELEMENTS: USE OF CALCULATED PEAK-OVERLAP CORRECTIONS

The relative intensities of the lcr1, Lgy L/z, LB3, and.L71 lines were measured using ten R.EE phosphates. These data were used to calculate peak-overlap corrections for the Lal and Lp1 lines of RE'8. Wavelength-dispersion and energy-dispersion specfia of the Z lines of fourteen R.EE compare favorably with the spectra using the peak-overlap corrections. Detection of REE by microprobe analysis is best accomplished by first collecting a wavelength-dispersion spectrum to identify interfering elements and locate the best wavelengths for background measurements, The,REf phosphates were used as standards for wavelength-dispersion analysis of four silicate glasses pre-pared by Drake & Weill (1972), three silicate glasses pre-pared in the.present study and some minerals previously analyzed for REE by wet+hemical metlod. The microprobe results of these samples axe consistent with the known levels of REE in the samples