Author: paleololigo

The Jurassic Period was a span of time from approximately 201 million years ago to 145 million years ago. The Jurassic is part of the Mesozoic Era of Earth’s history, which is regarded as the “Age of Dinosaurs.” Stable isotopes provide a tool for exploring ancient environments. For today’s A to Z installment, we present … Continue reading J is for Jurassic #AtoZChallenge

Isotopes are different ‘versions’ of atoms of the same element. Isotopes of an element differ from each other only in the number of neutrons in the nucleus (particles of one atomic mass unit, but no electric charge). The difference in the number of neutrons affects the weight (correctly called ‘mass’) of the atom. While the … Continue reading I is for Isotope #AtoZChallenge

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It’s also an important component of water and of organic materials. Hydrogen has three isotopes: hydrogen (mass = 1 [1 proton]), deuterium (mass = 2 [1 proton, 1 neutron]), and tritium (mass = 3 [1 proton, 2 neutrons]). Tritium is radioactive and is used in ‘hydrogen … Continue reading H is for Hydrogen #AtoZChallenge

Gas Chromatography is a technique that take a mixture of gasses and separates it out into the individual gasses. There are lots of reasons to perform gas chromatography. The most basic is so that one can determine what gasses are present in a sample. In mass spectrometry, gas chromatography is used to separate the gas … Continue reading G is for Gas Chromatography #AtoZChallenge

Fractionation is a measure of how different isotopes of the same element behave during chemical reactions. Different isotopes of the same element all behave more-or-less the same way in chemical reactions. They all bond in the same places, to the same other atoms. They fit into the same spaces. However, because the different isotopes have … Continue reading F is for Fractionation #AtoZChallenge

An elemental analyzer (EA) is a device that measures the quantities of specific elements in a material. For example, if you want to know how much nitrogen, carbon, and sulfur are in your soil, you’d use an elemental analyzer. Elemental analyzers are excellent additions to regular mass spectrometers. The process of measuring the amounts of … Continue reading E is for Elemental Analyzer #AtoZChallenge

Delta values are how we report the relative amounts of the different isotopes of a single element. For example δ13C (said delta-thirteen-see) provides a measure of the relative amounts of carbon-13 and carbon-12 in a material. The “delta notation” or delta value used in stable isotope geochemistry is often confusing, especially to people outside of … Continue reading D is for Delta #AtoZChallenge

Isotopes of carbon can be used to interpret available vegetation and diet of ancient ecosystems and individual animals. Carbon has two stable isotopes, carbon-12 and carbon-13. Carbon also has a rare radioactive isotope, carbon-14, which is used for assigning ages to objects less than 40,000 years old. The carbon we measure usually comes into rocks … Continue reading C is for Carbon #AtoZChallenge

Bioapatite is the mineral component of bones and teeth. Apatite is a general term for a group of minerals made of calcium phosphate. Different apatite minerals have differing amounts of other elements and atomic groups like fluorine (-F), hydroxyl (-OH), and carbonate (-CO3). Bones and teeth are composed of tiny crystallites of minerals in the … Continue reading B is for Bioapatite #AtoZChallenge

The “Amount Effect” is a phenomenon observed in the stable isotope composition of rain water related to how much rain has fallen. Water is composed of the elements of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen has two stable isotopes, 1H (hydrogen, most abundant) and 2H (deuterium). Oxygen has several stable isotopes, the most abundant being 16O (common) … Continue reading A is for Amount Effect #AtoZChallenge