Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotope Reference Materials for the Analysis of Water Inclusions in Halite

Abstract

Fluid inclusions represent a unique opportunity for a straightforward determination of the chemical and isotopic composition of fluids that composed the hydrosphere and atmosphere over Earth’s history. The production of reference materials in the laboratory is needed to monitor and to validate the determination of hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositions of water inclusions. We propose a protocol leading to the experimental synthesis of halite crystals that contain water inclusions whose δD and δ18O values can be related to those of surrounding evaporating waters where the crystals grew. Corrections to isotopic measurements were performed by applying an orthogonal projection of the raw data to the water evaporation trajectory line whose slope can be predicted by taking into account the parameters developed in the linear resistance model of Craig and Gordon (1965). Several hundreds of grams of halite reference material can be produced rapidly (within 2 d) at a low cost and can be stored within a vacuum desiccator at ambient temperature over several months or years. The described method is especially useful for the analysis of anhydrous salts and the interpretation of isotopic fractionations that operate within the surficial water cycle.