Study of Stable Isotopes
Commonly analysed stable isotope systems include those of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur. These isotope systems for lighter elements that exhibit more than one primordial isotope for each element, have been under investigation for many years in order to study processes of isotope fractionation in natural systems. The long history of study of these elements is in part because the proportions of stable isotopes in these light and volatile elements is relatively easy to measure. However, recent advances in mass spectrometry (i.e. multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) now enable the measurement of isotope ratios in heavier stable elements, such as iron, copper, zinc, molybdenum, etc.
Stable isotope ratios have been used in botanical and plant biological investigations for many years, and more and more ecological and biological studies are finding stable isotopes (mostly carbon, nitrogen and oxygen) to be extremely useful. Other workers have used oxygen isotope ratios to reconstruct historical atmospheric temperatures, making them important tools for climate research. Measurements of ratios of one naturally occurring stable isotope to another play an important role in radiometric dating and isotope geochemistry, and also helpful for determining patterns of rainfall and movements of elements through living organisms, helping sort out food web dynamics in ecosystems.
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