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During the Variscan orogeny in Central Europe, partial melting in the lower continental crust formed granitic magmas, which intruded into the upper crust and left compounds of Ca (plus Eu), Mg, etc. in the lower crust. From the late Paleozoic decomposition of the tonalitic upper crust, sedimentary graywackes were produced reflecting the composition of this crust. The repeated reworking of the sedimentary cover caused the formation of sands. Sandstones as their products of consolidation contain increasing fractions of quartz and decreasing feldspar from Carboniferous and Triassic to Cretaceous age. A distinct negative Eu anomaly characterizes the majority of these rocks. The latter is imprinted by the Variscan magmatism. Quartz as used for numerous Medieval wood ash glasses is marked for its Central European origin by a distinct negative Eu anomaly in contrast to many soda glasses produced outside Germany mostly with a small or none Eu anomaly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sets of 20 soda ash, 16 soda lime and 23 wood ash glasses mainly from excavations in Europe were analysed by microprobe and LA-ICP-MS for 61 elements and are presented as average concentrations with standard deviations. Concentrations of sodium, potassium and magnesium allow the major glass type to be identified. Specific compositions of the raw materials of glass production indicate certain sources, technical processes and ages. Heavy minerals etc. of quartz sands contain rare earth elements (REE) from crustal fractionations that are different for the three major glass types. Accumulations of P, B, Ba, Mn and K in wood from soils by organic processes can characterize glass from certain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three synthetic reference glasses were prepared by directly fusing and stirring 3.8 kg of high‐purity oxide powders to provide reference materials for microanalytical work. These glasses have andesitic major compositions and are doped with fifty‐four trace elements in nearly identical abundance (500, 50, 5 µg g−1) using oxide powders or element solutions, and are named ARM‐1, 2 and 3, respectively. We further document that sector‐field (SF) ICP‐MS (Element 2 or Element XR) is capable of sweeping seventy‐seven isotopes (from 7Li to 238U, a total of sixty‐eight elements) in 1 s and, thus, is able to quantify up to sixty‐eight elements by laser sampling. Micro‐ and bulk analyses indicate that the glasses are homogeneous with respect to major and trace elements. This paper provides preliminary data for the ARM glasses using a variety of analytical techniques (EPMA, XRF, ICP‐OES, ICP‐MS, LA‐Q‐ICP‐MS and LA‐SF‐ICP‐MS) performed in ten laboratories. Discrepancies in the data of V, Cr, Ni and Tl exist, mainly caused by analytical limitations. Preliminary reference and information values for fifty‐six elements were calculated with uncertainties [2 relative standard error (RSE)] estimated in the range of 1–20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]