Determination of the H Isotopic Composition of Individual Components in Fine-Scale Mixtures of Organic Matter and Phyllosilicates with the Nanoscale Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

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When organic matter is mixed on a nanometer scale with clay minerals, the individual D/H ratios of the two H-bearing phases cannot be directly measured even with the nominal spatial resolution of nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS, 50-100 nm). To overcome this limitation, a new analytical protocol is proposed based on the deconvolution of the D(-)/H(-) and (16)OD(-)/(16)OH(-) ionic ratios measured by NanoSIMS. Indeed, since the yields of H(-) and (16)OH(-) are different for organics and clays, it should be theoretically possible to determine the mixing ratio of these two components in the area analyzed by the ion probe. Using organics with different D/H ratios, the interdependence of the D(-)/H(-) and (16)OD(-)/(16)OH(-) ionic ratios was determined in pure samples. Then using the H(-) and (16)OH(-) yields and the isotopic ratios measured on pure organic matter and clays, the expected D(-)/H(-) and (16)OD(-)/(16)OH(-) variations as a function of the mixing proportions were determined. These numerical predictions are consistent with measurements on laboratory prepared mixtures of D-rich organic matter and D-poor phyllosilicates, validating both the proposed experimental protocol and its use for meteorites. With an improvement of the precision of the ionic ratios by a factor of 10, it should possible to expend this protocol to samples having natural terrestrial D/H variations. Such an improvement could be attainable with the development of synthetic deuterated reference samples.