SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1973
STP36535S

Mass Spectrometric Analysis of the Volatiles Released by Heating or Crushing Rocks

Source

The volatiles trapped in rocks can be released either by heating or by crushing. Unfortunately crushing generates new, clean surfaces which adsorb chemically active gases and thus change both the amount and composition of the evolved gases. For quantitative analysis the volatiles were released by heating 0.1-g samples in fused silica tubes at temperatures up to 1200°C. The evolved volatiles were separated into two fractions by fractional freezing. Volatiles which were not condensed in a liquid nitrogen-cooled trap (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, nitrogen, helium, etc.) were mixed with a known amount of argon internal standard and leaked into a calibrated E.A.I. QUAD 1110 mass spectrometer for analysis. The condensable volatiles (water, carbon dioxide, higher hydrocarbons) were subsequently evaporated and analyzed in the same way. The analog output from the mass spectrometer was fed to a digital integrator which printed the areas of the peaks on a teletype and simultaneously punched a paper tape. The tape was later transmitted over a telephone line to a time-shared computer for data processing.

Author Information

Barker, C
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
Sommer, MA
University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
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Details
Developed by Committee: F07
Pages: 56–70
DOI: 10.1520/STP36535S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4631-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0791-5