TY  - JOUR
A1  - Frick, Daniel Alexander
A1  - Schüßler, Jan Arne
A1  - Sommer, Michael
A1  - von Blanckenburg, Friedhelm
T1  - Laser Ablation In Situ Silicon Stable Isotope Analysis of Phytoliths
JF  - Geostandards and geoanalytical research
N2  - Silicon is a beneficial element for many plants and is deposited in plant tissue as amorphous bio-opal called phytoliths. The biochemical processes of silicon uptake and precipitation induce isotope fractionation: the mass-dependent shift in the relative abundances of the stable isotopes of silicon. At the bulk scale, delta Si-30 ratios span from -2 to +6 parts per thousand. To further constrain these variations in situ, at the scale of individual phytolith fragments, we used femtosecond laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (fsLA-MC-ICP-MS). A variety of phytoliths from grasses, trees and ferns were prepared from plant tissue or extracted from soil. Good agreement between phytolith delta Si-30 ratios obtained by bulk solution MC-ICP-MS analysis and in situ isotope ratios from fsLA-MC-ICP-MS validates the method. Bulk solution analyses result in at least twofold better precision for delta Si-30 (2s on reference materials <= 0.11 parts per thousand) over that found for the means of in situ analyses (2s typically <= 0.24 parts per thousand). We find that bushgrass, common reed and horsetail show large internal variations up to 2 parts per thousand in delta Si-30, reflecting the various pathways of silicon from soil to deposition. Femtosecond laser ablation provides a means to identify the underlying processes involved in the formation of phytoliths using silicon isotope ratios.
KW  - In situ silicon isotope ratio analysis
KW  - phytolith
KW  - laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry
KW  - biogenic silica
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1111/ggr.12243
SN  - 1639-4488
SN  - 1751-908X
VL  - 43
IS  - 1
SP  - 77
EP  - 91
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -