Advancements in Field Portable Elemental Analysis for Soil Chemistry Evaluation.

Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) Spectrometry has been proven to be an effective elemental analysis field tool for monitoring heavy metal contamination in soils for over a decade. Two approved environmental methods for this are US EPA 2007 SW-846 Test Method 6200, “Field portable XRF for the determination of elemental concentrations in soil and sediment” and ISO 13196:2013 “Soil Quality: Screening soils for selected elements by EDXRF using a handheld or portable instrument”. Additionally, the “USDA Soil Survey Field and Laboratory Methods Manual (2014, No. 51, V.2)” describes the pXRF method for major and trace elemental analysis in the “Soil Mineralogical Analyses” section.

The advancements in pXRF technology and data analysis software since those methods were published have improved the elemental range, detection limits, speed of measurement, breadth of data analysis and user experience significantly. This presentation will describe these pXRF advancements and illustrate their value with applications for effective assessment and management of soil and plant health of agricultural importance.