To enlighten the qualitative distribution of Cu in a contaminated Technosol (a soil developed from deposited technogenic material) on the sub-micron scale, we used nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).


 We studied seven areas (up to 40 μm × 40 μm) on a thin section of a soil horizon by NanoSIMS, measuring 12 C- , 18 O- , 32 S- , 63 Cu- and 56 Fe16 O- .  We evaluated the NanoSIMS measurements with a novel digital image processing tool to enlighten the composition of measured areas and thus the distribution of Cu at the sub-micron scale.  The combination of NanoSIMS analyses with digital image processing gave us new insights into the distribution of Cu in contaminated soil. 
NanoSIMS
Small-scale distribution of copper in a Technosol horizon studied by nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry.RATIONALE
 To enlighten the qualitative distribution of Cu in a contaminated Technosol (a soil developed from deposited technogenic material) on the sub-micron scale, we used nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS).



Nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry
We evaluated the NanoSIMS measurements with a novel digital image processing tool to enlighten the composition of measured areas and thus the distribution of Cu at the sub-micron scale. 
digital image processing tool