Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes.pptVIP

* Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Summer 2003 Harald Strauss Geologisch-Pal?ontologisches InstitutWestf?lische Wilhelms-Universit?t Münster Germany ISOTOPES: ?... an atom, whose nuclei contain the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons.“ m E n element atomic number mass number There exist approximately 270 stable und 1700 unstable isotopes (Clark and Fritz, 1997). Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Composition and Structure of Nuclides A = Z + N A = Mass Z = Protons N = Neutrons Nuclides are defined by their number of protons and neutrons. Thereby, the number of protons is similar to the atomic number.The sum of protons and neutrons represents the mass number of the respective nuclide. Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes from: Clark and Fritz, 1997 Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes from: Clark and Fritz, 1997 Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Isotope Ratio: R = Frequency of rare isotope Frequency of frequent isotope 13RCO2 = [13CO2] [12CO2] Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Differences in mass between two isotopes result in clear differences of their physical and chemicalbehavior. Hence, during physical and/or chemical reactions, this results in differences of their isotope ratio, a process that is called isotope fractionation. Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Isotope Fractionation Physico-chemical reactions are associated with isotopefractionation, resulting from different reaction rates of various isotopes. Isotope fractionation is quantified by the fractionation factor ?, which represents the ratio of the isotopiccompositions of reactant and product. ? = Rreactant Rproduct ?18Owater-vapour = (18O/16O)water (18O/16O)vapour Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Physico-Chemical Fractionation H2Owater ? H2Ovapour ?18Owater-vapour = (18O/16O)water (18O/16O)vapour CO2 + H2O ? H2CO3 ?13CCO2-H2CO3 = (13C/12C)CO2 (13C/12C)H2CO3 Geochemistry of Stable Isotopes Physico-Chemical Fractionation 2HS- + 1H2O ? 1HS- + 2H1HO Ca