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Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis
Published on: August 15, 2018
Factors controlling the oxygen isotopic composition of lacustrine authigenic carbonates in Western China:
Huashu Li1, Xingqi Liu2, Aradhna Tripati3,4
1College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, 105 West-Third-Ring North Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100048, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
In the carbonate-water system, at equilibrium, the oxygen isotopic composition of carbonate is dependent not only on the temperature but also on the isotopic composition of host water in which the carbonate is formed. In this study, lake surface sediment and water samples were collected from 33 terminal lakes in Western China to evaluate controls on the oxygen isotopic composition of lacustrine authigenic carbonates (δ18Ocarb) and its spatial distribution. Our results show that water oxygen isotopic composition (δ18Owater) rather than lake summer water temperature (Twater), is the main determinant of δ18Ocarb, irrespective of whether oxygen isotope equilibrium is achieved. There are significant linear correlations between δ18Ocarb and elevation, as well as that between δ18Ocarb and latitude for lakes located on the Tibetan Plateau. In Western China, the spatial distribution of δ18Ocarb is consistent with that of δ18Owater, and is ultimately controlled by the isotopic composition of local precipitation (δ18Oprecipitation) that depends on the source of water vapor. Therefore, changes in δ18Ocarb can be predominantly interpreted as variations of δ18Owater, which in turn represent changes in δ18Oprecipitation for paleoclimate reconstructions in this region, and may be relevant to studies of other areas.
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