ABSTRACT
Information on the chemical composition of geological materials is often of fundamental importance within many branches of modern geoscience, and applies to geomaterials in their widest sense, as solid rocks and ores, sediments, water and air. Analytical chemistry is therefore an important element within all fields of geology and related activities. Basic research within many fields of geology and geochemistry has created an extended interest for chemical data, not only with regard to element coverage and concentration level, but also concerning the type of geological material. In the early days of the development of mineralogy and petrology, geological materials like rocks, ores and minerals were exclusively analysed with gravimetric and titrimetric wet chemical methods. X-ray fluorescence represents one of the few instrumental analytical methods which normally uses solid samples.
