Kinetic and equilibrium Fe isotope fractionation between aqueous Fe(II) and Fe(III)

Abstract

Equilibrium and kinetic Fe isotope fractionation between aqueous ferrous and ferric species measured over a range of chloride concentrations (0, 11, 110 mM Cl−) and at two temperatures (0 and 22°C) indicate that Fe isotope fractionation is a function of temperature, but independent of chloride contents over the range studied. Using 57Fe-enriched tracer experiments the kinetics of isotopic exchange can be fit by a second-order rate equation, or a first-order equation with respect to both ferrous and ferric iron. The exchange is rapid at 22°C, ∼60–80% complete within 5 seconds, whereas at 0°C, exchange rates are about an order of magnitude slower. Isotopic exchange rates vary with chloride contents, where ferrous-ferric isotope exchange rates were ∼25 to 40% slower in the 11 mM HCl solution compared to the 0 mM Cl− (∼10 mM HNO3) solutions; isotope exchange rates are comparable in the 0 and 110 mM Cl− solutions.The average measured equilibrium isotope fractionations, ΔFe(III)-Fe(II), in 0, 11, and 111 mM Cl− solutions at 22°C are identical within experimental error at +2.76±0.09, +2.87±0.22, and +2.76±0.06 ‰, respectively. This is very similar to the value measured by Johnson et al. (2002a) in dilute HCl solutions. At 0°C, the average measured ΔFe(III)-Fe(II) fractionations are +3.25±0.38, +3.51±0.14 and +3.56±0.16 ‰ for 0, 11, and 111 mM Cl− solutions. Assessment of the effects of partial re-equilibration on isotope fractionation during species separation suggests that the measured isotope fractionations are on average too low by ∼0.20 ‰ and ∼0.13 ‰ for the 22°C and 0°C experiments, respectively. Using corrected fractionation factors, we can define the temperature dependence of the isotope fractionation from 0°C to 22°C as:103 ln αFe(III)-Fe(II) = [0.334 ± 0.032]*106T2 − 0.88 ± 0.38 where the isotopic fractionation is independent of Cl− contents over the range used in these experiments. These results confirm that the Fe(III)-Fe(II) fractionation is approximately half that predicted from spectroscopic data, and suggests that, at least in moderate Cl− contents, the isotopic fractionation is relatively insensitive to Fe-Cl speciation.