Isotope Geochemistry: A derivative of the Treatise on Geochemistry

After the discovery that elements were commonly composed of isotopes, there developed a range of studies of the variability of isotopic compositions in Earth materials, which was able to add to our understanding of Earth processes and history.

This collection of chapters from the Treatise on Geochemistry describes the range of isotopic studies. The chapters are grouped into the following categories: light stable isotopes, radiogenic tracers, noble gases and radioactive tracers. The first three groups depend on mass spectrometric measurements. The section on radioactive tracers employs both radioactive counting techniques and the newly developed accelerator mass spectrometric techniques.

Oxygen isotopes in meteorites, Structural and isotopic analysis of organic matter in carbonaceous chondrites, Trace element and isotopic fluxes/subducted slab, Nonmass-dependent isotopic fractionation processes: Mechanisms and recent observations in terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments, The stable isotopic composition of atmospheric CO2, Water stable isotopes: Atmospheric composition and applications in Polar ice core studies, Stable isotope applications in hydrologic studies, Elemental and isotopic proxies of past ocean temperatures, Sulfur-rich sediments, Stable isotopes in the sedimentary record, The global oxygen cycle, High-molecular-weight petrogenic and pyrogenic hydrocarbons in aquatic environments, Radiocarbon, Natural radionuclides in the atmosphere, Noble gases, The origin of noble gases and major volatiles in the terrestrial planets, Noble gases as mantle tracers, Sampling mantle heterogeneities through oceanic basalts: Isotopes and trace elements, Radiogenic isotopes in weathering and hydrology, Long-lived isotopic tracers in oceanography, paleoceanography and ice-sheet dynamics, Records of Cenozoic ocean chemistry, Appendix 1, Appendix 2, Appendix 3, Appendix 4