Author name: Sang Chen

Oxygen and Carbon Isotopes in Marine Carbonates: A Biogenic Climate Archive Built Upon Disequilibria

The stable isotopic composition of marine biogenic carbonates is one of the main archives for paleoclimate reconstructions. Reading these archives accurately requires understanding of how different organisms make carbonate minerals, and how various biomineralization processes influence stable isotope fractionation. New developments in stable isotope measurements, laboratory experiments, and biomineralization modeling have progressively enabled us to disentangle the environmental and biological controls on the stable isotope proxies, and offer promise for a deeper understanding of how calcifying organisms record and respond to changes in Earth’s climate and carbon cycle through geologic time.

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Beyond Equilibrium: Kinetic Isotope Fractionation in High-Temperature Environments

Igneous and metamorphic rocks exhibit greater isotopic heterogeneity than expected from equilibrium. Large nonequilibrium isotope effects can arise from diffusion and chemical reactions, such as crystal growth and dissolution. The effects are time-dependent and can, therefore, be used to probe timescales of igneous and metamorphic processes that are inaccessible to direct observation. New discoveries of isotopic variability in nature, informed by diffusion and reaction modeling, can provide unique insights into the formation of rocks in the interiors of planetary bodies.

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