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Archaeological materials, such as bone, organic residues, hair, or sea shells, can serve as substrates for isotopic analysis. Carbon, nitrogen and zinc isotope ratios are used to investigate the diets of past people; these isotopic systems can be used with others, such as strontium or oxygen, to answer questions about population movements and cultural interactions, such as trade.
The most widely studied and used isotopes in archaeology are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, strontium and calcium. [2] An isotope is an atom of an element with an abnormal number of neutrons, changing their atomic mass. [2] Isotopes can be subdivided into stable and unstable or radioactive. Unstable isotopes decay at a predictable rate over time. [2]
Measurement of natural variations in the abundances of stable isotopes of the same element is normally referred to as stable isotope analysis. This field is of interest because the differences in mass between different isotopes leads to isotope fractionation, causing measurable effects on the isotopic composition of samples, characteristic of their biological or physical history.
Tutorial illustration of isotope dilution analysis with fish counting in lakes. Isotope dilution is analogous to the mark and recapture method, commonly used in ecology to estimate population size. For instance, consider the determination of the number of fish (n A) in a lake. For the purpose of this example, assume all fish native to the lake ...
Federal and state nuclear regulatory agencies keep records of the radionuclides used. [4] As of 2003 the isotopes Antimony-124, argon-41, cobalt-60, iodine-131, iridium-192, lanthanum-140, manganese-56, scandium-46, sodium-24, silver-110m, technetium-99m, and xenon-133 were most commonly used by the oil and gas industry because they are easily ...
Nitrogen-15, or 15 N, is often used in agricultural and medical research, for example in the Meselson–Stahl experiment to establish the nature of DNA replication. [12] An extension of this research resulted in development of DNA-based stable-isotope probing, which allows examination of links between metabolic function and taxonomic identity of microorganisms in the environment, without the ...
Isotope analysis is frequently done by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. For biogenic substances in particular, significant variations of isotopes of C, N, and O can occur. Analysis of such variations has a wide range of applications, such as the detection of adulteration in food products [37] or the geographic origins of products using isoscapes.
Position-specific isotope analysis, also called site-specific isotope analysis, is a branch of isotope analysis aimed at determining the isotopic composition of a particular atom position in a molecule. Isotopes are elemental variants with different numbers of neutrons in their nuclei, thereby having different atomic masses. Isotopes are found ...