Homogeneous magnesium isotopic composition of seawater: an excellent geostandard for Mg isotope analysis

Abstract

The magnesium (Mg) isotopic compositions of 40 seawater samples from the Gulf of Mexico and of one seawater sample from the southwest Hawaii area were determined by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) to investigate the homogeneity of Mg isotopes in seawater. The results indicate that the Mg isotopic composition of seawater from the Gulf of Mexico is homogeneous, both vertically and horizontally, with average values for δ(26)Mg = -0.832 ± 0.068 and δ(25)Mg = -0.432 ± 0.053 (n = 40, 2SD)--identical to those of seawater from Hawaii (average δ(26)Mg = -0.829 ± 0.037 and δ(25)Mg = -0.427 ± 0.033) and to the average literature values of seawater worldwide (δ(26)Mg = -0.83 ± 0.11 and δ(25)Mg = -0.43 ± 0.06, n = 49, 2SD). Collectively, global seawater has a homogeneous Mg isotopic composition with δ(26)Mg = -0.83 ± 0.09 and δ(25) Mg = -0.43 ± 0.06 (2SD, n = 90). The magnesium isotopic composition of seawater is principally controlled by river water input, carbonate precipitation and oceanic hydrothermal interactions. The homogeneous Mg isotopic composition of seawater indicates a steady-state budget in terms of Mg isotopes in oceans, consistent with a long Mg residence time (~13 Ma). Considering that seawater is homogeneous, readily available in large amounts, can be easily accessed and processed for isotopic analysis, and has an isotopic composition near the middle of the natural range of variation, it is an excellent geostandard for accuracy assessment to rule out analytical artifacts during high-precision Mg isotopic analysis.