oxygen isotopes
O-16, O-17, O-18
Oxygen isotopes are variants of oxygen atoms that differ in the number of neutrons in their nuclei.
The three naturally occurring forms—oxygen-16, oxygen-17, and oxygen-18—have identical chemical properties but different masses.
Scientists analyze the ratios of these isotopes in ice cores, ocean sediments, and fossils to reconstruct past climates and temperatures: Oxygen isotope analysis revealed the ice age's progression.
- deuteriumHydrogen isotope with neutron
- paleoclimatePast geological climate conditions
- ice coresCylindrical glacier samples
- polar iceFrozen water at poles
- proxyAuthorized substitute
tree rings · fractionation · glacial · interglacial · calcite · shells · precipitation · temperature · ocean temperature · mass spectrometry · ratios · deep time · sediment · sea level · coral · stalagmites · Greenland · Antarctica
- biosignaturesbiosignatures, biomarkers, methane, ozone, chlorophyll
- ice coresice cores, core samples, core drilling, drilling, drilling sites
- isotope scienceradioisotopes, carbon-14, carbon-13, nitrogen-15, uranium-238
- paleoclimatepaleoclimate, ice age, ice ages, ice cores, ice core
- Ice Ageice age, mammoths, saber-tooth cat, mammoth, woolly mammoth
- space materialsmeteorites, moon rocks, lunar samples, stardust, space rocks
oxygen isotopescarbon dating
Isotope-based age measurement
radiocarbon dating · dendrochronology · carbon-14 dating · radiometric dating · absolute dating
oxygen, isotope, isotopes, oxygenate, oxygenated, oxygenation, oxygenator, deoxygenate, deoxygenated