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Oxygen Isotopes

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

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

Definition

Natural oxygen is a mixture of three stable isotopes 16O (99.762%), 17O (0.038%), and 18O (0.200%). Isotope ratios of 17O/16O and 18O/16O normally vary in natural materials by up to 5% and 10%, respectively, which are mass-dependent isotope fractionation . Mass-independent isotope fractionations also occur in oxygen for extraterrestrial materials and atmospheric molecules. These isotope fractionations are useful as tracers in geochemical and cosmochemical reactions and are applied to diverse geochemical topics as the origin of the solar system and the evolution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere and paleoclimate .

Introduction

Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe and the most abundant element of the terrestrial planets. The presence of oxygen in both gaseous and solid phases makes oxygen isotopes (terrestrial relative abundances: 16O = 99.762%, 17O = 0.038%, and 18O = 0.200%) important tracers of various fractionation processes in the solar...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

    Hisayoshi Yurimoto

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  1. Hisayoshi Yurimoto
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Correspondence to Hisayoshi Yurimoto .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Cornell University Department of Earth, Ithaca, New York, USA

    William M. White

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Yurimoto, H. (2018). Oxygen Isotopes. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_346-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_346-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

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