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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Split Point Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification of Thermal-Optical Organic/Elemental Carbon Measurements
Published on: September 7, 2019
Evaluating uncertainty in the calculation of non-exchangeable hydrogen fractions within organic materials
Lesley A Chesson1, David W Podlesak, Thure E Cerling
1Biology Department, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. chesson@biology.utah.edu
Abstract:
We calculated the fraction of exchangeable hydrogen atoms in proteinaceous materials commonly analyzed for stable isotopic composition related to the region-of-origin of an animal. These included several types of alpha- and beta-keratin, and muscle tissue. We find that the fraction of H atoms in keratin available for exchange at a biologically relevant temperature (25 degrees C) averaged 9% across a range of ground organic materials, but was as high as approximately 17% in cut hair; muscle tissue has approximately 12% exchangeable H atoms. Under most analysis conditions, the difference in exchangeable fractions due to physical sample processing has a minimal effect on the calculated delta2H values of the non-exchangeable H atoms within a keratin-containing tissue (<2 per thousand). However, extreme mismatches between sample and reference material types could affect delta2H values.
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