ABSTRACT
The ultimate objective of most geochemical analysis programmes is to describe the ‘true’ variation of an analyte’s concentration (or the concentrations of several analytes) in some domain of the natural world which is under investigation, such as sediment in streams draining an area thought to contain a mineral deposit, or airborne particulate matter downwind from an industrial plant. As analysing the entire domain is impractical, the investigator collects a series of samples for analysis which are intended to encompass collectively the entire chemical variation present in the domain. Ensuring that the samples collected are sufficiently representative of the domain cannot simply be left to chance, but requires the application of statistically rigorous sampling procedures.
