Kinetic nitrogen isotope fractionation associated with thermal decomposition of NH3: Experimental results and potential applications to trace the origin of N2 in natural gas and hydrothermal systems |
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| Authors: | Long Li Pierre Cartigny Magali Ader |
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| Institution: | Laboratoire de Géochimie des Isotopes Stables, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS-UMR 7154, 75251 Paris, France |
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| Abstract: | Ammonia (NH3) is the major intermediate phase in the pathway of nitrogen (N) transfer from the fixed N phases (e.g., in crustal material) to free N2 (e.g., in natural gas reservoirs and volcanic gases). Yet the N isotopic behavior during these N-cycling processes remains poorly known. In an attempt to contribute to the understanding of N cycling using N isotopes, we carried out laboratory experiments to investigate the N isotopic effect associated with thermal decomposition of ammonia (2NH3 → N2 + 3H2). Pure NH3 (with initial δ15NNH3 of ∼ −2‰, relative to air standard) was sealed into quartz tubes and thermally decomposed at 600, 700 or 800 °C from 2 hours to 500 days. With the progress of the reaction, the δ15N of the remaining NH3 and the accumulated N2 increased from −2 to +35‰ and from −20 to −2‰, respectively. The differences of the N-isotope fractionations at the three temperatures are not significant. Modeling using the Rayleigh distillation model yielded similar kinetic N-isotope fractionation factors (αN2-NH3) of 0.983 ± 0.002 for 600, 700 and 800 °C. Applied to geological settings, this significant isotope discrimination (∼17‰) associated with partial decomposition of NH3/NH4+ from crustal sources (δ15Naverage ∼ +6.3‰) can produce mantle-like (i.e. ∼ −5‰) or even lower δ15N values of N2. This may explain the large variation of δ15N (−20 to +30‰) of N2 in natural gas reservoirs. It can also possibly explain the extreme 15N-depletion of N2 in some volcanic gases. This possibility has to be carefully considered when using N isotopes to trace geological N cycling across subduction zones by analysis of volcanic N2. |
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