Stable Isotope Fractionation

Macko, S.A., Estep, M.L.E., Engel, M.H. and Hare, RE. 1986 Kinetic fractionation of stable nitrogen isotopes during amino acid transamination. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 50 2143-2146. 

Bell, L.S., Cox, G. and Sealy, J. (2001). Determining isotopic life history trajectories using bone density fractionation and stable isotope measurements a new approach. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 116 66-79. 

Platzner I, Degani N (1990) Fractionation of stable calcium isotopes in tissues of date palm trees. Biomed Environ Mass Spect 19 822-824... 

Heterogeneities in stable isotopes are difficult to detect, because stable isotope ratios are affected by the various partial melting-crystal fractionation processes that are governed by temperature-dependent fractionation factors between residual crystals and partial melt and between cumulate crystals and residual liquid. Unlike radiogenic isotopes, stable isotopes are also fractionated by low temperature surface processes. Therefore, they offer a potentially important means by which recycled crustal material can be distinguished from intra-mantle fractionation processes. 

Wong WW, Sackett WM (1978) Fractionation of stable carbon isotopes by marine phytoplankton. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 42 1809-1815... 

Why can one assume that the isotopic compositions of elements on the Earth are representative of the bulk solar system This was not obvious in the beginning. Isotope-ratio measurements of meteorites made in the late 1950s appeared to show significant variations. However, within a few years, it was shown that those variations were due almost entirely to problems with the measurements, not to real variations in the samples. By the early 1960s enough measurements had been made to convince most scientists that in the material to which they had access, terrestrial rocks and meteorites, each element always had the same isotopic composition (except for small fractionations of stable isotopes and shifts... 

The fractionation of stable isotopes between two substances A and B can be expressed by use of the isotope fractionation factor alpha (a),... 

Stable isotope effect studies carried out during 1972-1992 concerning correlation of IEs with molecular forces and molecular structures, correlation of zero-point energy and its IEs with molecular forces and molecular structure, vapour pressure isotope effects and fractionation of stable isotopes have been reviewed466. 

Over the last 30 years the study of the stable isotope composition of carbonates has been one of the more active areas of research in carbonate geochemistry. These studies have particular application to later discussion of carbonate diagenesis and historical geochemistry of carbonate rocks. Many of the same considerations involved in understanding elemental distribution coefficients apply to the fractionation of stable isotopes. Consequently, we have included a discussion of the chemical principals associated with isotope behavior in this chapter. Only a relatively brief summary of these basic chemical considerations will be presented here, because recent books and extensive reviews are available on this topic (e.g., Arthur et al., 1983 Hoefs, 1987). Also, our discussion will be restricted to carbon and oxygen isotopes, because these isotopes are by far the most important for the study of carbonate geochemistry. The principles, however, apply to other stable isotopes (e.g., sulfur). 

Chambers, L.A., and Trudinger, PA. (1978) Microbiological fractionation of stable sulfur isotopes a review and critique. J. Geomicrobiol. 1, 249-295. 

Klaue B., Kesler S. E., Blum J. D. (2000) Investigation of natural fractionation of stable mercury isotopes by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In Proc. Int. Conf. Heavy Metals Environ. Ann Arbor, Ml, August 6-10. 

Campbell, D.J., Fractionation of stable chlorine isotopes during transport through smipermeable membranes, M.S. Thesis, University of Arizona, 1985. 

The distribution of chemical species in waters and sediments is strongly influenced by an interaction of mixing cycles and biological cycles (Buffle and DeVitre, 1994). Radioisotope measurements may often be used to establish the time scale of some of these processes. Similarly, evaluation of the fractionation of stable isotopes aids in the quantitative interpretation of biogeochemical and environmental processes and cycles. 

Chebotarev, E.N., Matrosov, A.G., Kudryavtseva, A.I., Zyakun, A.M. and Ivanov, M.V., 1975. Fractionation of stable isotopes during microbiological processes in Slavonic lakes. Microbiology, 44 268—271. 

Kaplan, I.R. and Rafter, T.A., 1958. Fractionation of stable isotopes of sulfur by Thio-bacilli. Science, 127 517. 

Mekhtieva, V.L. and Kondrat eva, E.N., 1966. Fractionation of stable isotopes of sulfur by photosynthesizing purple bacteria Rhodopseudomonas sp. Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 166 465—468. 

Guy, R. D., M.L. Fogel and J.A. Berry (1993) Photos5nithetic fractionation of stable isotopes of oxygen and carbon. Plant Physiol. 101, 37-47. 

Therefore, the values for the groundwater humic substances indicate a terrestrial rather than an aquatic origin. Based on the fractionation of stable carbon isotopes by algae and higher plants, Nissenbaum (1973) concluded that ratios of -18 indicate algal origin and ratios of -25 to -30 indicate terrestrial origin. 

An important application of carbon stable isotope ratios lies in the reconstruction of the carbon dioxide concentration in surface waters and subsequently in the atmosphere at the time the organic matter was produced. Experimental and field studies have shown that the fractionation of stable car-... 

Silfer, J. A., M. H. Engel S. A. Macko, 1992. Kinetic fractionation of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes during peptide bond hydrolysis Experimental evidence and geochemical implications. Chem. Geol. 15 211-222. 

Fractionation factor (a) In any process involving the fractionation of stable isotopes x and y (where y is the heavier isotope), such as the transformation of substance A to substance B, a defines the relative abundance of the isotopes in A and B ... 

Chambers, L.A. Trudinger, P.A. 1979. Microbiological fractionation of stable sulphur isotopes areview and critique. Geomicrobiology 1(3) 249-293. 

---