Biogeochemistry of Stable Carbon Isotopes

Abstract

In 1947, in his classical paper on the thermodynamic properties of isotopic substances, H. C. Urey [1] laid the foundation of modern isotope geochemistry. At the same time, A. O. Nier [2] designed a new mass spectrometer which allowed the measurement of small differences in isotope abundance ratios. A modification in the Nier-type mass spectrometer and a refinement in instrumentation techniques by McKinney et al. [3] finally initiated stable isotope studies of the type that will be discussed in this review.