TY - JOUR A1 - Lucassen, F. A1 - Pritzkow, Wolfgang A1 - Rosner, M. A1 - Sepulveda, F. A1 - Vasquez, P. A1 - Wilke, H. A1 - Kasemann, S. A. T1 - The stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon and elemental contents in modern and fossil seabird guano from Northern Chile – Marine sources and diagenetic effects N2 - Seabird excrements (guano) have been preserved in the arid climate of Northern Chile since at least the Pliocene. The deposits of marine organic material in coastal areas potentially open a window into the present and past composition of the coastal ocean and its food web. We use the stable isotope composition of nitrogen and carbon as well as element contents to compare the principal prey of the birds, the Peruvian anchovy, with the composition of modern guano. We also investigate the impact of diagenetic changes on the isotopic composition and elemental contents of the pure ornithogenic sediments, starting with modern stratified deposits and extending to fossil guano. Where possible, 14C systematics is used for age information. The nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of the marine prey (Peruvian anchovy) of the birds is complex as it shows strong systematic variations with latitude. The detailed study of a modern profile that represents a few years of guano deposition up to present reveals systematic changes in nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition towards heavier values that increase with age, i.e. depth. Only the uppermost, youngest layers of modern guano show compositional affinity to the prey of the birds. In the profile, the simultaneous loss of nitrogen and carbon occurs by degassing, and non-volatile elements like phosphorous and calcium are passively enriched in the residual guano. Fossil guano deposits are very low in nitrogen and low in carbon contents, and show very heavy nitrogen isotopic compositions. One result of the study is that the use of guano for tracing nitrogen and carbon isotopic and elemental composition in the marine food web of the birds is restricted to fresh material. Despite systematic changes during diagenesis, there is little promise to retrieve reliable values of marine nitrogen and carbon signatures from older guano. However, the changes in isotopic composition from primary marine nitrogen isotopic signatures towards very heavy values generate a compositionally unique material. These compositions trace the presence of guano in natural ecosystems and its use as fertilizer in present and past agriculture. KW - Isotope ratio KW - VPDB KW - Fishmeal KW - Elemental analyser KW - Vario EL III KW - Casein standard KW - ICP-OES KW - Accelerator mass spectrometry PY - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-407911 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 12 IS - 6 SP - Article e0179440, 1 EP - 25 PB - PLOS CY - San Francisco, California, US AN - OPUS4-40791 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vogl, Jochen A1 - Rosner, M. A1 - Kasemann, S. A. A1 - Kraft, R. A1 - Meixner, A. A1 - Noordmann, J. A1 - Rabb, S. A1 - Rienitz, O. A1 - Schuessler, J. A. A1 - Tatzel, Michael A1 - Vocke, R. D. T1 - Intercalibration of Mg isotope delta scales and realisation of SI traceability for Mg isotope amount ratios and isotope delta values N2 - The continuous improvement of analytical procedures using multi-collector technologies in ICP-mass spectrometry has led to an increased demand for isotope standards with improved homogeneity and reduced measurement uncertainty. For magnesium, this has led to a variety of available standards with different quality levels ranging from artefact standards to isotope reference materials certified for absolute isotope ratios. This required an intercalibration of all standards and reference materials, which we present in this interlaboratory comparison study. The materials Cambridge1, DSM3, ERMAE143, ERM-AE144, ERM-AE145, IRMM-009 and NIST SRM 980 were cross-calibrated with expanded measurement uncertainties (95% confidence level) of less than 0.030‰ for the δ25/24Mg values and less than 0.037‰ for the δ26/24Mg values. Thus, comparability of all magnesium isotope delta (δ) measurements based on these standards and reference materials is established. Further, ERM-AE143 anchors all magnesium δ-scales to absolute isotope ratios and therefore establishes SI traceability, here traceability to the SI base unit mole. This applies especially to the DSM3 scale, which is proposed to be maintained. With ERM-AE144 and ERM-AE145, which are product and educt of a sublimation-condensation process, for the first time a set of isotope reference materials is available with a published value for the apparent triple isotope fractionation exponent θapp, the fractionation relationship ln α(25/24Mg)/ln α(26/24Mg). KW - Delta scale KW - Traceability KW - Scale anchor KW - Absolute isotope ratio KW - Comparability KW - Triple isotope fractionation PY - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-511557 SN - 1751-908X VL - 44 IS - 3 SP - 439 EP - 457 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-51155 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -