Isotope analysis is the identification of isotopic signature, abundance of certain stable isotopes of chemical elements within organic and inorganic compounds. Isotopic analysis can be used to understand the flow of energy through a food web, to reconstruct past environmental and climatic conditions, to investigate human and animal diets, for food authentification, and a variety of other physical, geological, palaeontological and chemical processes. Stable isotope ratios are measured using mass spectrometry, which separates the different isotopes of an element on the basis of their mass-to-charge ratio.
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👉 Isotope analysis in the context of Isotope fractionation
Isotope fractionation describes fractionation processes that affect the relative abundance of isotopes, a phenomenon that occurs (and so advantage is taken of it) in the study geochemistry, biochemistry, food science, and other fields. Normally, the focus is on stable isotopes of the same element. Isotopic fractionation can be measured by isotope analysis, using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance methods (specialised techniques,) cavity ring-down spectroscopy, etc., to measure ratios of isotopes, important tools to understand geochemical and biological systems, past and present. For example, biochemical processes cause changes in ratios of stable carbon isotopes incorporated into biomass.
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Isotope analysis in the context of Isotopic signature
An isotopic signature (also isotopic fingerprint) is a ratio of non-radiogenic stable isotopes, stable radiogenic isotopes, or unstable radioactive isotopes of particular elements in an investigated material. The ratios of isotopes in a sample material are measured by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry against an isotopic reference material. This process is called isotope analysis.
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The term stable isotope has a meaning similar to stable nuclide, but is preferably used when speaking of nuclides of a specific element. Hence, the plural form stable isotopes usually refers to isotopes of the same element. The relative abundance of such stable isotopes can be measured experimentally (isotope analysis), yielding an isotope ratio that can be used as a research tool. Theoretically, such stable isotopes could include the radiogenic daughter products of radioactive decay, used in radiometric dating. However, the expression stable-isotope ratio is preferably used to refer to isotopes whose relative abundances are affected by isotope fractionation in nature. This field is termed stable isotope geochemistry.
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