Simultaneous determination of eight heavy metals elements in soil by microwave digestion-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric method was developed for the analysis of seven heavy metals( Hg,Cd,Pb,Cr,Cu,Zn,Ni) and a metalloid( As) in soil samples. Several parameters such as temperature and time of microwave digestion,type and volume of digestion reagent were investigated. The samples were digested completely using HNO3-HF-H2O2.The results showed that the linear correlation cofficients of eight elements were preferable( r≥0. 9992). The limits of detection were in the range of 0. 02 ~ 1. 00 mg kg- 1. The intra-day and inter-day precision of the proposed method were good( the relative standard deviations≤6. 2%). The recoveries of the elements were acceptable ranging from 91. 3% to 104. 9%. The determination results and standard values of GBW07457 and NILMA049 showed good consistency. The analytical results of soil indicated Cd element was the primary pollutant that could produce important influence on soil quality of the target area.