The concentration and isotopic composition of osmium in the oceans
- California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
Osmium is one of the rarer elements in seawater. Analytical difficulties have previously prevented the direct measurement of the osmium concentration and isotopic composition in seawater. We report a chemical separation procedure that yields quantitative extraction of osmium standard and of osmium tracer by iron hydroxide precipitation from seawater doped with osmium standard, osmium tracer, and FeCl{sub 3}. The iron hydroxide precipitate is processed to extract osmium, using techniques developed for iron meteorites. Utilizing this procedure, water samples from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans were analyzed for osmium concentration and isotopic composition. Direct determination of the osmium concentration of seawater gives between 15 and 19 fM kg{sup -1}. Detailed experiments on different aliquots of one seawater sample from the North Atlantic Ocean, keeping the amounts of reagents constant, yield concentrations from 16 to 19 fM kg{sup -1}. The variability in concentration is outside the uncertainty introduced because of blanks and indicates a lack of full equilibration between the osmium tracer and seawater osmium. The most reliable osmium concentration of the North Atlantic deep ocean water is 19 fM kg {sup -1} with the {sup 187}Os/{sup 186}Os ratio being 8.7{+-}2 (2{sigma}). Detailed experiments on one seawater sample from the Central Pacific Ocean indicate that the most reliable osmium concentration of the deep ocean water from the Central Pacific is 19 fM kg{sup -1} with the {sup 187}Os/{sup 186}Os ratio being 8.7{+-}0.3 (2{sigma}). The directly measured osmium isotopic composition of the oceans is in good agreement with that obtained from the analysis of some rapidly accumulating organic rich sediments. A sample of ambient seawater around the Juan de Fuca Ridge gave {sup 187}Os/{sup 186}Os = 6.9{+-} 0.4. 42 refs., 6 figs., 4 tabs.
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-88ER13851
- OSTI ID:
- 585467
- Journal Information:
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 61, Issue 16; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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