Post-mortem oxygen isotope exchange within cultured diatom silica

Potential post-mortem alteration to the oxygen isotope composition of biogenic silica is critical to the validity of palaeoclimate reconstructions based on oxygen isotope ratios (δ¹⁸ O values) from sedimentary silica. We calculate the degree of oxygen isotope alteration within freshly cultured diatom biogenic silica in response to heating and storing in the laboratory.

The experiments used freshly cultured diatom silica. Silica samples were either stored in water or dried at temperatures between 20 °C and 80 °C. The mass of affected oxygen and the associated silica-water isotope fractionation during alteration were calculated by conducting parallel experiments using endmember waters with δ¹⁸ O values of -6.3 to -5.9 ‰ and -36.3 to -35.0 ‰. Dehydroxylation and subsequent oxygen liberation were achieved by stepwise fluorination with BrF₅ . The ¹⁸ O/¹⁶ O ratios were measured using a ThermoFinnigan MAT 253 isotope ratio mass spectrometer.

Significant alterations in silica δ¹⁸ O values were observed, most notably an increase in the δ¹⁸ O values following drying at 40-80 °C. Storage in water for 7 days between 20 and 80 °C also led to significant alteration in δ¹⁸ O values. Mass balance calculations suggest that the amount of affected oxygen is positively correlated with temperature. The estimated oxygen isotope fractionation during alteration is an inverse function of temperature, consistent with the extrapolation of models for high-temperature silica-water oxygen isotope fractionation.

Routinely used preparatory methods may impart significant alterations to the δ¹⁸ O values of biogenic silica, particularly when dealing with modern cultured or field-collected material. The significance of such processes within natural aquatic environments is uncertain; however, there is potential that similar processes also affect sedimentary diatoms, with implications for the interpretation of biogenic silica-hosted δ¹⁸ O palaeoclimate records.