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Of the 25 known isotopes of sulfur, four are stable. [1] In order of their abundance, those isotopes are 32 S (94.93%), 34 S (4.29%), 33 S (0.76%), and 36 S (0.02%). [2] The δ 34 S value refers to a measure of the ratio of the two most common stable sulfur isotopes, 34 S: 32 S, as measured in a sample against that same ratio as measured in a known reference standard.
Microbial sulfate reduction has been demonstrated to fractionate sulfur isotopes in bacteria, with some studies showing a dependence upon sulfate concentration [28] and/or temperature. [64] Studies examining dozens of species of dissimilatory sulfate reducing microbes have observed sulfur isotope fractionations ranging from −65.6‰ to 0‰.
Sulfur (16 S) has 23 known isotopes with mass numbers ranging from 27 to 49, four of which are stable: 32 S (95.02%), 33 S (0.75%), 34 S (4.21%), and 36 S (0.02%). The preponderance of sulfur-32 is explained by its production from carbon-12 plus successive fusion capture of five helium-4 nuclei, in the so-called alpha process of exploding type II supernovas (see silicon burning).
Isotope fractionation occurs during a phase transition, when the ratio of light to heavy isotopes in the involved molecules changes.When water vapor condenses (an equilibrium fractionation), the heavier water isotopes (18 O and 2 H) become enriched in the liquid phase while the lighter isotopes (16 O and 1 H) tend toward the vapor phase.
Sulfate-reducing bacteria in marine sediment fractionate sulfur isotopes as they take in sulfate and produce sulfide. Prior to the 2010s, it was thought that sulfate reduction could fractionate sulfur isotopes up to 46 permil [ 33 ] and fractionation larger than 46 permil recorded in sediments must be due to disproportionation of sulfur ...
The most notable examples of mass-independent fractionation in nature are found in the isotopes of oxygen and sulfur.The first example was discovered by Robert N. Clayton, Toshiko Mayeda, and Lawrence Grossman in 1973, [2] in the oxygen isotopic composition of refractory calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions in the Allende meteorite.
Equilibrium isotope fractionation is the partial separation of isotopes between two or more substances in chemical equilibrium. Equilibrium fractionation is strongest at low temperatures, and (along with kinetic isotope effects) forms the basis of the most widely used isotopic paleothermometers (or climate proxies): D/H and 18 O/ 16 O records from ice cores, and 18 O/ 16 O records from calcium ...
The important sulfur cycle is a biogeochemical cycle in which the sulfur moves between rocks, waterways and living systems. It is important in geology as it affects many minerals and in life because sulfur is an essential element (), being a constituent of many proteins and cofactors, and sulfur compounds can be used as oxidants or reductants in microbial respiration. [1]