Standard Reference Materials

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Task Objectives

This task provides provides standard reference materials (SRM) to coordinate Geologic Discipline geochemical efforts with the international community. Reference materials serve a vital role in a laboratory's ability to produce accurate chemical analyses. Without the availability of well characterized SRMs it is impossible to asses analytical bias in a dataset. The USGS is the oldest producer of high quality geological reference materials, and leads the world in the development of unique reference materials in support of the global geological community.

For additional information, please see the Geochemical Reference Standards web site.

Statement of Work

This task will continue to focus on four primary efforts:

Maintain and expand the supply of traditional USGS alumino-silicate reference materials, such as a marine sediment standard, and a soil from the southeast US.
Develop certificates-of-analysis for the newly synthesized microbeam reference materials which are used in the calibration of microanalytical techniques such as Laser-ablation ICP-MS, and electron microprobe.
Develop QC reference materials in support of the USGS contract laboratory task which will be called GSP-QC.
Develop a low-level PGE QC material in conjunction with the National Soil Survey program.

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Mineral Resources	Eastern / Central / Western / Alaska / Minerals Information
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