Silicon Isotope Analyses of Soil and Plant Reference Materials: An Inter‐Comparison of Seven Laboratories

• Published in: Geostandards and geoanalytical research Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 525 - 538
• Main Authors: Delvigne, Camille, Guihou, Abel, Schuessler, Jan A., Savage, Paul, Poitrasson, Franck, Fischer, Sebastian, Hatton, Jade E., Hendry, Katharine R., Bayon, Germain, Ponzevera, Emmanuel, Georg, Bastian, Akerman, Alisson, Pokrovsky, Oleg S., Meunier, Jean‐Dominique, Deschamps, Pierre, Basile‐Doelsch, Isabelle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2021; Wiley
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Geochemistry; inter‐comparison of measurements; Isotopes; Laboratories; plant; Reference materials; Sciences of the Universe; Silicon; Silicon isotopes; Soil; Soil analysis; inter-comparison of measurements; silicon isotopes; soil; reference materials; plant
• ISSN: 1639-4488; 1751-908X
• DOI: 10.1111/ggr.12378

The use of silicon (Si) isotopes has led to major advances in our understanding of Si cycling in modern and past environments. This inter‐laboratory comparison exercise provides the community with the first set of soil and plant reference materials with an analytically challenging matrix containing organic material that is known to induce isotopic bias, for use as secondary reference materials in Si isotope measurement. Seven laboratories analysed four soil reference materials (GBW‐07401, GBW‐07404, GBW‐07407, TILL‐1) and one plant reference material (ERM‐CD281). Participating laboratories employed a range of chemical preparation methods and analytical setups but all analyses were performed by MC‐ICP‐MS. Irrespective of the chemical preparation method or analytical conditions, the results show excellent agreement among laboratories within 2s for at least three replicates. Data were combined together to calculate δ29Si and δ30Si mean values (relative to NBS 28) and their expanded uncertainties (U, coverage factor k = 2). The δ30Si values are as follow: GBW‐07401: −0.27 ± 0.06‰, GBW‐07404: −0.76 ± 0.12‰, GBW‐07407: −1.82 ± 0.17‰, TILL‐1: −0.16 ± 0.06‰ and ERM‐CD281: −0.28 ± 0.11‰. Also, a compilation of published data provides an up‐to‐date mean δ30Si for BHVO‐2 of −0.28 ± 0.08‰. Key Points The silicon isotopic compositions (δ29Si and δ30Si) of four soil reference materials and one plant reference material were measured in seven laboratories. Excellent agreement among laboratories allows combining data together to calculate δ29Si and δ30Si average values.