Compound-specific carbon isotope compositions of individual long-chain n-alkanes in severe Asian dust episodes in the North China coast in 2002

Asian dust storms originating from the arid regions of central and eastern Asia and from the Loess Plateau in China frequently occur in spring [1,2]. Driven by the East Asian monsoon, Asian dust can be transported to northern Pacific Ocean[2―8]. Asian du…     

Comparison of the carbon isotope composition of total organic carbon and long-chain <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-alkanes from surface soils in eastern China and their significance

Surface soil samples collected over a high spatial resolution in eastern China were analyzed for carbon isotope composition （δ^13C） of total organic carbon （TOC） and higher plant-derived long-chain n-alkanes, with the latter reported as weighted mean values. The two sets of δ^13C values are significantly correlated and show similar trends in spatial variation. The spatial distribution of δ^13C shows less negative values in the mid-latitudes between 31°N and 40°N and more negative ones at higher and lower latitudes. This is consistent with previously reported carbon isotope data from surface soil phytoliths in the same region and suggests that the mid-latitude area provides relatively favorable growing condi- tions for C4 plants. Furthermore, δ^13C values of both TOC and long-chain n-alkanes from 12 surface soil samples collected from a small grassland in north China displayed similar carbon isotope values and the difference between paired δ^13C of a soil samples remains relatively constant. Our data demonstrate that in eastern China, soil δ^13C composition of both TOC and long-chain n-alkanes is effective indicators of C3/C4 ratios of the prevailing vegetation. This work suggests that -22‰ and -32‰ are good es- timated end members for the weighted mean δ^13C values of long-chain n-alkanes （C27, C29 and C31 n-alkanes） from soils under dominant C4 or C3 vegetation, allowing us to reconstruct paleovegetation trends.     

Foliar δ^13C and δ^15N values of C3 plants in the Ethiopia Rift Valley and their environmental controls

The foliar C and N stable isotopic compositions （δ^13C and δ^15N） and the relationships between these compositions and environmental factors of C3 plants in the Ethiopia Rift Valley were investigated. There were three distribution patterns for foliar δ^13C with mean values of -26.7‰±0.4‰, -29.7‰ ±0.6‰ , and -26.9‰± 1.2‰ in cold-moist, temperate-moist, and arid-hot environments, respectively. The δ^15N values ranged from -1.4‰ ±1.7‰ to 14.3‰ ± 0.1‰, with higher values under arid-hot conditions and the lowest values in plants growing at higher altitudes under cold-moist conditions. A strong negative relationship between mean annual precipitation and δ^15N explained more than half of the observed variation in the δ^15N values （r2= 0.54, P 〈 0.001）; a modest positive relationship was also found between δ^15N and temperature （r2 = 0.32, P 〈 0.01）. A weakly positive relationship existed between δ^13C and temperature, and changes in δ^13C values with precipitation and altitude followed quadratic curves. This suggests a shift in the effects of water and heat conditions caused by altitude on carbon isotopic discrimination.     

The biomarkers of 2,6,10,15, 19-pentamethylicosenes and their carbon isotopic composition in the sediments from the Gulf of Mexico

The methanogenic archaea and sulfate reduction bacteria are flourishing in the sediments associated with gas venting and gas hydrate settings on the sea floor, where the anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) me-diated by these bacteria is the dominant path…     

A reconnaissance of Cu isotopic compositions of hydrothermal vein-type copper deposit Jinman,Yunnan, China

The Jinman deposit is a low-temperature hydrothermal vein-type copper deposit, which occurs along faults and fractures within Middle Jurassic sandstone and mudstone units of the Lanping-Simao Mesozoic-Cenozoic basin of Yunnan Province. In this note, we report for the first time the Cu isotopic compositions of Cu-sulfides from the Jinman deposit. The data show large variations and low δ⁶⁵Cu values of -3.70‰ to +0.30‰, which are in sharp contrast to the δ⁶⁵Cu values of high-temperature magmatic-hydrothermal copper deposits (-0.62‰ to +0.40‰) and the modern ocean-floor massive sulfide deposits (-0.48‰ to +1.15‰). It is suggested that the Cu isotope fractionation at Jinman is affected mainly by the following factors, i.e. a low temperature of ore formation (150—286℃); a sedimentary source for ore materials; various stages of ore deposition; and involvement of organic matter in the ore-forming processes.     

Natural gas geochemistry of low evolutionary stage of medium- and small-sized basins in Yunnan Province, southwestern China

The biogenic gas and premature-low mature associated gases in some medium and small-sized basins of Yannan Province, such as Luliang, Yanglin, Baoshan and Jinggu basins, have beed researched. The results show that the biogenic-gas consists mainly of methane which is more than 99% in gasous hydrocarbons and of lighter carbon isotopic composition with δ13C1 values from -60.0‰ to - 75.4‰. The methane carbon isotopic compositions in the Baoshan Basin is relatively heavy (δ13C1 - 60‰- - 65‰), but those in Luliang and Yanglin basins are lighter (δ13C1, less than -70‰), which implies that the gas field of the Baoshan Basin formed earlier than the others. In the Jinggu Basin, where crude oil is premature-lower mature, the natural gas of associated oil relatively wet and the relative content of methane about 58%-95% in gasous hydrocarbons. Constituently the gas composition is much similar to associated one, but the methane carbon isotopic compositions from - 53.8‰ to - 57.8‰ are obviously richer in 12C than those of general oil fields and similarly characterize the biothermo-catalytic transitional zone gas. Their ethane carbon isotopic compositions from - 34.6‰ to -29.0‰ show that they may be derived from type Ⅰ or Ⅱ source rock. But for the associated gas from lower evolutionary stage, the heavier ethane carbon isotopic composition as well as the reversed order among the carbon isotopic composition of ethane, propylane and butane also implies that some gases from the type Ⅲ organic matter are mixed. The δ13CCo2 of the samples essentially less than - 10‰ may be generated from organic matter.     

Analysis of carbon isotope in phytoliths from C3 and C4 plants and modern soils

The analysis of carbon isotope in phytoliths from modern plants and surface soils in China shows that the values of carbon isotope are consistent with those from C3 and C4 plants,and the processes of photosynthesis of the original plants can be clearly identified by carbon isotope in phytoliths.The value of carbon isotope varied from -23.8‰ to -28‰,with the maximum distributed in the latitude zone from 34° N to 40° N in North China and East China areas,and the minimum in the Northeast China and South China regions.The values of carbon of phytoliths tend to increase from low to high and then reduce to low value again as the latitude increases.In the same latitude zone,the carbon isotope in phytoliths from grassland soil under the trees is obviously lower than that from grassland soil without any trees with the difference of 1‰-2‰.     

Nitrogen isotopic composition of plant-soil in the Loess Plateau and its responding to environmental change

The nitrogen isotope of soil is of emerging significance as an indicator of climatic change and biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen in nature systems. In this paper, the nitrogen content and isotopic composition of modern ecosystems from arid and semiarid Loess Plateau in northwestern China, including plant roots and surface soil, were determined to investigate trends in δ15N variation of plant roots and soil along a precipitation and temperature gradient in northwestern China under the East Asian Monsoon clim...     

Variation of soil Δδ13C values in Xifeng loess-paleosol sequence and its paleoenvironmental implication

The carbon isotopic compositions of soil organic matter （SOM） and total carbonate （TC） in Xifeng Ioess-paleosol sequence have been studied. The δ^13CsoM values vary from -23.8‰ to -20.2‰, which are higher in interglacial than in glacial stages. Contrary to δ^13Csoi values, the δ^13CTc values vary from -8.5‰ to -3.6‰ and are lower in interglacial than in glacial stages. The differences （△δ^13C） between the δ^13CsoM and δ^13CTc values vary from 14.1‰ to 19.4‰. Our results from the Xifeng loesspaleosol sequence indicate that the △δ^13C values represent the ratio of primary carbonate （PC） to secondary carbonate （SC）. The △δ^13C values were high in the loess stages, and the maximal PC-to-SC ratio can reach 6：4. But in the paleosol stages, the △δ^13C values were low, with a small proportion of PC. The △δ^13C values in Ioess-paleosol sequence also indicate the contributions of the dust to the loess sediment in the Chinese Loess Plateau because the dust contains the PC.     

Variability of snail growing season at the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 75 ka

Knowledge of seasonal climate change is one of the key issues facing Quaternary paleoclimatic studies and estimating seasonal climate change is difficult,especially changes such as seasonal length on glacial-interglacial timescales.The stable isotope composition from seasonal land snail shells provides the potential to reveal seasonal climatic features.Two modern land snail species,cold-aridiphilous Pupilla aeoli and thermo-humidiphilous Punctum orphana,were collected from different climatic zones in 18 localities across the Chinese Loess Plateau,spanning 11 degrees of longitude and covering a range of 1000 km2.The duration of the snail growing season(temperature ≥10℃) was shorter(202 ± 6 d) in the eastern Loess Plateau compared with in the western Loess Plateau(162 ±7 d).The δ13C of P.aeoli shells was ?9.1‰ to ?4.7‰ and ?5.0‰ to 0.3‰ for δ18O.For P.orphana,the δ13C ranged from ?9.1‰ to ?1.9‰ and ?8.9‰ to ?2.9‰ for δ18O.Both the δ13C and δ18O differences between the two snail species were reduced from the east to the western Loess Plateau(2.8‰ to 0.2 ± 1.1‰ for δ13C and 4.7‰ to 2.9 ± 1.3‰ for δ18O).These isotopic differences roughly reflect the difference in the growing season lengths between the east and west Loess Plateau indicating that the duration of the snail growing season shortens by 15 d or 19 d if the difference decreases by 1‰ in δ13C or δ18O,respectively.Thus,the difference in δ13C and δ18O between both snail species can be used to reveal the length of the snail growing season in the past.Based on our investigation,the length of the snail growing seasons from the Xifeng region during the last 75 ka was reconstructed.During the mid-Holocene(8-3 ka),the mean isotopic difference from both snail species reached maximum values of 2.6 ± 0.7‰ and 2.1 ± 1.4‰ for δ13C and δ18O,respectively.This was followed by MIS 3 that ranged from 2.5 ± 0.4‰ for δ13C and 1.6 ± 0.8‰ for δ18O.The Last Glacial Maximum changed by only 0.2‰ and 0.4‰ for δ13C and δ18O,respectively.Therefore,we estimate that the duration of the snail growing seasons to be ～200 ± 10 d during the mid-Holocene,190 ± 6 d in MIS 3 and 160 ± 3 d during the last glacial period.     

The occurrence and significance of C25HBI in Cenozoic saline lacustrine source rocks from the Western Qaidam Basin,NW China

The saline lacustrine deposit of the Oligocene Lower Ganchaigou Formation is the main source rock for the Western Qaidam Basin,NW China.In this study,abundant highly branched isoprenoids with 25 carbon atoms (C25HBI) were detected in the upper section of the Lower Ganchaigou Formation.C25HBI is a biomarker for diatoms,and can provide information regarding biogeochemical processes during production and preservation of sedimentary organic matter.The carbon isotopic values of C25HBI in these source rocks were in the range of-18‰ to-20‰.The relative enrichment in 13C of C25HBI suggests that these isoprenoids were derived from diatom blooms.In this case,the diatoms used HCO3-as an additional carbon source to dissolved CO2 in water column due to their high biological productivity.Conversely,the diatom blooms indicated an abundant nutrient supply to the environment and high primary productivity.Thus,the occurrence of 13C-enriched C25HBI could be an ideal marker for good source rocks.The decreased concentration of CO2(aq) in the water column induced by diatom blooms can result in an enrichment in 13C of organic matter synthesized by primary producers.This may be a possible reason for the occurrence of 13C-enriched organic matter in the Cenozoic source rocks of the Western Qaidam Basin.Previous studies have shown that the high carbon number n-alkanes sourced from diatoms have no carbon preference.Hence,the sources of n-alkanes in regional source rocks are complex,and should be considered when discussing the sources of organic matter in future studies.     

Stable carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of carbonates in middle Mesoproterozoic Wumishan Formation and sea-level change

δ13C of dolostones from the Wumishan Formation (1 310-1 207 Ma) in the Ming Tombs area near Beijing ranges from - 1.5 to 1.5‰ (PDB), and generally, the δ18O ranges from - 4 to - 5‰ (PDB). The secular variation of stable carbon isotopic compositions is cyclic. δ13C displays positive shifts from a sequence boundary to 1.5 per mil (PDB), then a negative shifts to - 1.5 per mil (PDB). In some unit, where δ13C values of the rocks are negative, they have relatively high δ18O values close to -4.0‰ (PDB). These characteristics of the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions may be associated with sea-level changes.     

Oxygen isotopic compositions of zircons from pyroxenite of Daoshichong,Dabieshan: Implications for crust-mantle interaction

Oxygen isotopic compositions of zircons from pyroxenite (～145 Ma) of Daoshichong, Dabieshan have been measured by an ion microprobe. Both within the single grain and among different grains, oxygen isotopic ratios are homogeneous, δ 18O = (7.66‰±0.46)‰ (1 SD, 1 σ = 0.10, n = 22). High δ 18O values indicate that the mantle-derived parent magma of Daoshichong pyroxenite have undergone interaction with crustal materials. Combing with other geochemical constraints, the way of crust-mantle interaction is suggested to be source mixing other than crustal contamination. The time interval between crust-mantle interaction and formation of the parent magma of Daoshichong pyroxenite is less than several million years. The crustal component involving in crust-mantle interaction is mafic lower crust, and the parent magma of pyroxenite possibly contain large proportion (>37%) of such lower crust.     

Isotopic composition of organic carbon and elemental carbon in PM2.5 in Hangzhou, China

In order to identify the sources of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in airborne PM2.5 in Hangzhou, OC and EC were oxidized to CO2 offline in two thermal steps, and their carbon isotope compositions were measured by mass spectrometer. Results showed that the average δ13COC values were -52.8‰, -48.1‰, -50.0‰ and -52.5‰ in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, respectively, and the annual average value was -50.9‰ (-85.0‰ to -35.6‰), whereas δ13CEC values were -26.4‰, -26.9‰, -26.7‰ and -25.9‰ in the four seasons, and its annual value was -26.5‰ (-30.5‰ to -23.8‰). Large differences were found between isotope compositions of the two types of carbon. δ13COC values were much smaller than those of δ13CEC, and varied in a large range, and the ratios in both spring and winter were the smallest. δ13CEC varied in a small range, and its mean values in four seasons were nearly the same. This suggests that the carbon isotope compositions of OC and EC in PM2.5 can provide useful information in distinguishing their sources.     

Variations of organic carbon isotopic composition and its environmental significance during the last glacial on western Chinese Loess Plateau

The last glacial period is characterized by a cold and dry climate with low atmospheric CO2 concentration. The relatively arid climate and low CO2 concentration are favorable to the growth of C4 plants, but the low temperature limits the development of th…     

Glycerol ether biomarkers and their carbon isotopic compositions in a cold seep carbonate chimney from the Shenhu area,northern South China Sea

At modern cold seeps,the anaerobic oxidation of methane(AOM)is the dominant pathway for methane consumption in marine sediments.AOM,which is mediated by a consortium of methane oxidizing archaea and sulfate reducing bacteria,is proposed to be responsible for authigenic carbonate formation.A methane-derived carbonate chimney was collected from the Shenhu area, northern South China Sea.The membrane lipids and their very low carbon isotopic compositions(?115‰to?104‰)in the Shenhu chimney suggest the presence of an AOM process.Three specific archaeal and bacterial biomarkers were detected,including Ar,DAGE 1f,and monocyclic MDGD.Their strongly depleted??13C values(?115‰to?104‰),which are lower than those of the normal marine lipids in sediments,reveal biogenic methane as their origin.The carbonate deposits exhibiting a chimney structure indicate that a vigorous methane-rich fluid expulsion may have occurred at the seafloor.We propose that the decomposition of gas hydrates at depth is the likely cause of seepage and cold seep carbonate formation in the Shenhu area.     

Anomalously high δD and micro-scale hydrogen isotope heterogeneities in the mantle: Ion microprobe analysis of amiboles from peridotite xenoliths at Nushan, eastern China

Hydrogen isotopic compositions of four amphibole grains from three pieces of lherzolite xenoliths in Cenozoic basanites of Nushan, eastern China have been analyzed by ion microprobe. δD values of all analyzed points range from −94‰ to +46‰, some of which are much higher than the highest δD (+8‰) reported previously for mantle materials. The heterogeneities of D/H ratios within single grains have been observed, the variation of δD is up to 80‰ on the scale of less than 400 μm. No correlation between hydrogen isotopic ratios and hydrogen contents can be found, implying that the scatter of δD values could not result from a late shallow process such as hydrogen loss or hydrothermal alterations and should be considered as inherited from the source at depth. Chemical compositions of Nushan amphiboles are very homogeneous, excluding the fact that the scatter of δD values could arise from variable fractionation factors between a single fluid source and minerals. Therefore, metasomatic fluids responsible for the formation of Nushan amphiboles should be heterogeneous and result in the observed large variable and anomalously high δD values of amphiboles. We suggested that such metasomatic fluids could be related to magma degassing in the mantle source. Based on the D-H diffusion data and the scale of hydrogen isotope heterogeneities, it was inferred that the mantle metasomatism took place soon before the eruption of host magma.     

Diet control on carbon isotopic composition of land snail shell carbonate

Carbon isotope compositions for both the carbonate shells and soft bodies (organic tissue) of living land snails collected mostly from the Loess Plateau, China have been measured. The result shows that δ 13C values range from -13.1‰ to -4.3‰ for the aragonite shell samples and from -26.8‰ to -18.0‰ for the soft body samples. Although the shells are enriched in 13C relative to the bodies averagely by 14.2(±0.8)‰, the shell δ 13Ca values are closely correlated to the body δ 13Corg values, expressed as δ 13Ca = 1.021 δ 13Corg 14.38 (R = 0.965; N = 31). This relationship indicates that δ 13Ca is primarily a function of the isotopic composition of the snail diets since previous studies have proved that the snail body is the same as their food in carbon isotope composition. In other words, carbon isotope compo-sition of the carbonate shell can be used as a proxy to estimate the dietary 13C abundance of the land snails. The data also support that the 13C enrichment of the carbonate shells results mainly from the equilibrium fractionations between the metabolic CO2, HCO3-in the hemolymph and shell aragonite, and partially from kinetic fractionations when snail shells form during their activity.     

Molybdenum isotopic composition as a tracer for low-medium temperature hydrothermal ore-forming systems: A case study on the Dajiangping pyrite deposit,western Guangdong Province,China

Little is known about the range or controls on the molybdenum isotopic composition of low-medium temperature hydrothermal ore-forming systems. We present molybdenum isotope data from 12 hydrothermal syndepositional silicalite and carbonaceous slate samples from the Dajiangping pyrite deposit in western Guangdong Province, South China. The δ ^97/95 Mo values from Orebody III range from −0.02‰ to 0.29‰, with an average of 0.18‰. In contrast, the composition values from Orebody IV display a larger variation from −0.70‰ to 0.62‰. However, the five samples from the main ore bed all show strong negative values. This indicates that the significant variation in molybdenum isotopic composition supports different hydrothermal ore-forming metallogenesis and a metallogenic environment between the two orebodies. Orebody III is likely to have been deposited from submarine exhalative hydrothermal fluids under a relatively strong reducing environment and Orebody IV may have also been influenced by hydrothermal superimposition in a more oxidized disequilibrium condition. In addition, the δ ^97/95 Mo values of Orebody IV are clearly negative, together with the values increasing stratigraphically upward in the ore beds, suggesting that the metallogenic environment of Orebody IV is different from the open oceanic systems. There might be dynamic fractionation in this restricted environment. Therefore, the molybdenum isotope can be used as an effective tracer for the ore-forming fluid and metallogenic environment.     

Preliminary study of microscale zircon oxygen isotopes for Dabie-Sulu metamorphic rocks： Ion probe in situ analyses

151 in situ analyses of oxygen isotopes were carried out by ion micro-probe for zircons from 8 localities of HP-UHP metamorphic rocks including eclogites in the Dabie-Sulu terrane. The results show significant heterogeneity in δ^18O values, with variation in different rocks from -8.5‰ to 9.7‰ and within one sample from 2‰ to 12‰. No measurable difference in δ^18O was observed between protolith magmatic (detrital) zircons and metamorphic recrystallized zircons within analytical uncertainties from the ion micro-probe measurements. This indicates that the metamorphic zircons have inherited the oxygen isotopic compositions of protolith zircons despite the HP to UHP metamorphism. According to their protolith ages from zircon U-Pb in situ dating by the same ion micro-probe, two groups of oxygen isotope composition are recognized, with one having δ^18O values of 6‰-7‰ for old protolith of 1.9-2.5 Ga ages and the other 0‰-2‰ for young protolith of 0.7-0.8 Ga ages. The latter anomalously low δ^18O values of zircons indicate that the magma has had the obvious involvement of meteoric water when forming the young protolith of high-grade metamorphic rocks. This may be correlated with the snowball Earth event occurring in South China and the world elsewhere during the Neoproterozoic.