Patent ID: 7692789

Claim:
A system for detecting a concentration of at least one element in a soil core sample, said system comprising: a carrier supporting a substantially vertically extracted soil core sample with a vertical section of the sample accessible via an opening in the carrier; a laser operative for outputting laser light along a path; means for supporting the carrier transverse to the path with the vertical section of the sample in the path; means for detecting light generated according to its wavelength by a plasma produced in response to the laser light impinging on the sample and for outputting an electrical signal related thereto; and a controller operative for controlling the laser to output a plurality of laser light pulses for each step of the vertical section of the sample through the laser light path, for determining a data value related to an average of the plurality of electrical signals output by the means for detecting, and for determining a concentration of at least one element in the soil core sample where the corresponding plurality of laser light pulses impinged as a function of said data value.