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Water - δD, δ17O, δ18O, Δ17O

Overview

We employ the Picarro L2140i water isotope analyzer for analysis of δD, δ17O, and δ18O. We routinely compare results from this instrument to the traditional water fluorination IRMS technique that we also employ. We are tied to the VSMOW international scale via VSMOW and SLAP for our water isotope measurements. 300 uL vials are loaded with 200 uL of sample or reference water and placed in a PAL autosampler tray. The δD, δ17O, and δ18O are measured 6-10 times for each vial from a 2 µL water injection. Between each injection, the cavity is purged with dry air and partially evacuated with a small pump. We maintain a suite of in-house reference waters measured against VSMOW and SLAP using GISP as a quality standard.

Standard Operating Procedures

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