Modified Method for the Analysis of Nitrogen Isotopic Composition of Oceanic Nitrate at Low Concentration |
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| Authors: | Tomoyuki Tanaka Toshiro Saino |
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| Institution: | (1) Institute for Hydrospheric and Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan |
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| Abstract: | A method for the determination of the δ15N of nitrate in seawater described by Cline and Kaplan (1975) has been modified for application to low-level nitrate samples.
We have minimized the reagent blank problem by replacing the Devarda's alloy with an aluminum reagent, and have also established
a procedure that yields quantitative (93 ± 2%) extraction of nitrogen even at low nitrate levels. Though the amounts and the
δ15N of the blank N varied from one reagent set to another, with these modifications, an overall N blank was reduced to approximately
0.80 ± 0.33 μmole N having an estimated δ15N value of −1.8‰. After blank and yield corrections, the measured isotopic composition of nitrate differed by approximately
0.1‰ from the actual value while the precision was within ±0.2‰ at the 1.25 μM level. The modified procedure was applied to
seawater samples collected from the equatorial Pacific in order to compare the N blanks in field samples with those derived
from laboratory experiments. The results support the suitability of the modified approach for isotopic analysis of oceanic
nitrate in shallow water.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | Isotope analysis nitrogen isotope oceanic nitrate |
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