Laser Ablation In Situ Silicon Stable Isotope Analysis of Phytoliths
- 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 analysesSilicon 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.…
Author details: | Daniel Alexander FrickORCiDGND, Jan Arne SchüßlerGND, Michael SommerORCiDGND, Friedhelm von BlanckenburgORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1111/ggr.12243 |
ISSN: | 1639-4488 |
ISSN: | 1751-908X |
Title of parent work (English): | Geostandards and geoanalytical research |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Place of publishing: | Hoboken |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2018/10/23 |
Publication year: | 2018 |
Release date: | 2021/03/30 |
Tag: | In situ silicon isotope ratio analysis; biogenic silica; laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry; phytolith |
Volume: | 43 |
Issue: | 1 |
Number of pages: | 15 |
First page: | 77 |
Last Page: | 91 |
Funding institution: | Swiss National Science FoundationSwiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) [P2EZP2_168836] |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access / Green Open-Access |