Table 2.

Instrumental and detection limits for the XOS prototype analyzer and the Niton based on the analysis of an archived soil sample.

Element	XOS prototype XRF		Niton
	IDL (mg/kg)	MDL§ (mg/kg)	IDL (mg/kg)	MDL¶ (mg/kg)
As	0.1	2	2.5	7
Cd	1.2	36	6.6	14
Hg	0.1	1	4.0	2
Pb	0.1	2	3.4	7
Ba	4.9	40	28	65
Co	0.2	6	18	4
Cr	0.8	7	14	14
Cu	0.1	17	10	22
Fe	0.2	45	23	64
Mn	0.4	37	37	85
Ni	0.2	2	35	5
Se	0.1	14	2.0	6
Sn	0.2	28	19	12
Sr	0.1	2	<1	3
Ti	2.3	54	25	12
V	1.4	9	17	13
Zn	0.1	34	5.1	23

^§n=9 days (triplicate within day)

^¶n=5 days (triplicate within day)

IDL is instrument detection limit and is defined within the instrument software as “≤” and is based on the analysis of a SiO₂ blank

MDL is method detection limit based on analysis of an archived soil sample. See text for details