Central Stable Isotope Facility
BGC IsoLab is a highly specialized mass spectrometric laboratory to analyze stable
isotope ratio variations in atmospheric samples, soils, water or plant materials with a
maximum of precision and accuracy. Such variations are indicative of processes that
have left their mark this way. A key example is photosynthesis which prefers the light
isotope 12C over its heavier sibling 13C. Hence, during photosynthesis, the plant
matter produced has less 13C than the air-CO2 which is left with a higher content of
13C during this process. The resulting variations are often extremely small, but they
are highly significant. Since all fossil fuel has been generated in the distant past by
photosynthesis, the combustion of oil, coal or gas leads to an addition of relatively
‘light’ CO2 to the atmosphere.
Other stable isotopes under investigation include deuterium and the 18O/16O
relation in water samples, Deuterium in fossil molecules, 15N/14N ratios from plants
and soils, or the variation of 13C/12C in tree rings. In addition we use stable isotope
mass spectrometric techniques to quantify the O2 concentration in air with very high
precision. The decline of O2 in the atmosphere complements the increase in CO2; for
every fossil carbon, which is combusted to CO2, one molecule of O2 is removed from
the atmosphere.