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Isotope Fractionation (Metal)

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Encyclopedia of Geobiology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Definition

Variations in the abundances of the isotopes of metals, especially transition metals, arising from physical or chemical processes that discriminate among the isotopes of a given element.

Overview

Research into isotope fractionation of transition metals, alkaline earth metals, and metalloids is advancing rapidly as a result of analytical developments. As of this writing, fractionations have been reported for more than a dozen such elements (Figure 1). These investigations are heavily motivated by geobiological considerations. In particular, there is wide interest in the use of these new isotope systems as biosignatures and as proxies for the biogeochemical cycling of metals in modern and ancient settings. This article briefly reviews the analytical issues in historical context and the state of geobiological applications.

Isotope Fractionation (Metal). Figure 1
figure 1

Observed range of isotopic variations in modern and ancient natural samples for a selection of metals and metalloids....

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  1. School of Earth and Space Exploration, and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Ariel D. Anbar (Dr.)

  2. Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Silke Severmann

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Anbar, A.D., Severmann, S. (2011). Isotope Fractionation (Metal). In: Reitner, J., Thiel, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geobiology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9212-1_121

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