An Improved Pretreatment for Mineralogical analysis of Samples Containing Organic Matter

Abstract

Organic matter removal is accomplished rapidly and efficiently without removing carbonates by treating samples with a sodium hypochlorite solution. Quantities of organic matter left in samples by this treatment are commonly less than remain after hydrogen peroxide treatment of acidified samples.Stable suspensions result from the use of a sodium carbonate-sodium bicarbonate solution to wash and sodium saturate the samples without dissolving or complexing sesquioxides.