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Oxygen (chemical symbol O) has three naturally occurring isotopes: 16 O, 17 O, and 18 O, where the 16, 17 and 18 refer to the atomic mass.The most abundant is 16 O, with a small percentage of 18 O and an even smaller percentage of 17 O. Oxygen isotope analysis considers only the ratio of 18 O to 16 O present in a sample.
In geochemistry, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography δ 18 O or delta-O-18 is a measure of the deviation in ratio of stable isotopes oxygen-18 (18 O) and oxygen-16 (16 O). It is commonly used as a measure of the temperature of precipitation, as a measure of groundwater/mineral interactions, and as an indicator of processes that show isotopic fractionation, like methanogenesis.
O, samples enriched with the other stable isotopes can be used for isotope labeling. For example, it was proven that the oxygen released in photosynthesis originates in H 2 O, rather than in the also consumed CO 2, by isotope tracing experiments. The oxygen contained in CO 2 in turn is used to make up the sugars formed by photosynthesis.
Paleoclimatologists measure the ratio of oxygen-18 and oxygen-16 in the shells and skeletons of marine organisms to determine the climate millions of years ago (see oxygen isotope ratio cycle). Seawater molecules that contain the lighter isotope , oxygen-16, evaporate at a slightly faster rate than water molecules containing the 12% heavier ...
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. [1]
An example of the production cycle is a 90-minute irradiation of 2 milliliters of 18 O-enriched water in a titanium cell, through a 25 μm thick window made of Havar (a cobalt alloy) foil, with a proton beam having an energy of 17.5 MeV and a beam current of 30 microamperes.
Oxygen isotopic ratios, which may be measured very precisely, yield a unique and distinct signature for each Solar System body. [40] Different oxygen isotopic signatures can indicate the origin of material ejected into space. [41] The Moon's titanium isotope ratio (50 Ti/ 47 Ti) appears close to the Earth's (within 4 ppm).
An isoscape is a geologic map of isotope distribution. It is a spatially explicit prediction of elemental isotope ratios (δ) that is produced by executing process-level models of elemental isotope fractionation or distribution in a geographic information system (GIS).