As noted above, treating metals-containing sediments with HCl liberates metal ions into the acid solution that were previously bound up with AVS. After treatment these are present in solution, along with any metals that were initially unbound to AVS (due to insufficient AVS in the sediment to "mop up" all the metal ions). The concentrations of metals in the acid solution can be measured by a number of analytical chemistry methods, including atomic emission spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), or mass spectrometry.[1] These are known as "simultaneously extracted metals" because they are the metals liberated from the sediment while the volatilization of sulfide is occurring.