Brine from the saline Qarhan Lake was evaporated at 28±2°C in a clean environment.Two groups of experiments were conducted;one with complete separation of precipitate and brine at different stages of evaporation,and the other with continuous precipitation during the evaporation.Seventy-nine precipitate and brine samples were collected during the experiments,and the δ37 Cl values were determined using an improved thermal ionization mass spectrometry procedure for precise measurement of chlorine isotopes based on Cs2Cl+ ions.Based on the concentrations of Na+,K+,and Mg2+,evaporation was divided into three main precipitation stages as follows:halite dominant,carnallite dominant,and bischofite dominant.The δ37 Clsolid and δ37 Clliquid values of the precipitate and coexisting brine samples at different stages showed the following characteristics.The precipitates were enriched with 37 Cl relative to the coexisting brine samples,and the δ37 Cl of both the precipitate and brine samples decreased gradually during evaporation.The fractionation factors(αh) between halite and brine were the highest,followed by that(αc) between carnallite and brine,and then that(αb) between bischofite and brine.The αc and αb values of less than one,which indicate the precipitate is enriched in 35 Cl,were found when the evaporation process entered a new stage.However,the δ37 Cl values of carnallite,bischofite,and the coexisting brine samples decreased during evaporation.The residual brine is a 35 Cl reservoir.The experimental phenomena were consistent with the δ37 Cl values in saline deposits in the literature.δ37 Cl can be used as an indicator of brine evaporation processes,which is important in the exploration of sylvinite deposits.
LUO ChongGuangXIAO YingKaiMA HaiZhouMA YunQiZHANG YanLingHE MaoYong
The procedures of sample preparation for isotopic determination of boron in clay sediments is very cumbersome, by far, there haven't been relevant reports on that. In order to establish an effective method for sample preparation, a series of experiments were carried out. In this paper, boron in clay sediments was extracted with HCl solution and purified by two-step ion exchange method. Extracted HCl solution should be adjusted to alkalescency before passing through the Amberlite IRA 743 resin column due to the fact that Amberlite IRA 743 resin absorbs boron only from alkalescent solution. However, a mass of hydroxides of Al and Fe will be precipitated when the extracted HCl solution becomes alkalescent. Hydroxides of Al and Fe have a strong adsorption capacity for boron, which can cause boron isotope fractionation. To treat precipitated hydroxides of Al and Fe, four procedures, namely direct ion exchange (DRIE), decationizing ion exchange (DCIE), once sedimentation ion exchange (OSIE) and repeated sedimentation ion exchange (RSIE) were used and assessed. The influences of the four procedures on separation and extraction and isotopic composition of boron in experimental solutions and clay sediments were also discussed. According to the results, the DRIE, DCIE and OSIE are improper. The result of sample determination indicates that when extracting boron via RSIE, with the increase of precipitation times, there's an obvious decrease in boron content in the precipitated hydroxides while a sharp increase in recovery of boron and it is favorable for weakening the influence of boron isotope fractionation. But the process of RSIE is time consuming and it may introduce boron. It needs further research to establish a more effective sample preparation method for isotopic deter- mination of boron in clay sediments.
To be used as proxies of seawater surface temperature(SST), the δ 18Oc values and Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of scleractinian coral skeletons must be verified by coral culture experiments in the laboratory. This paper describes a coral culture experiment that was conducted at several seawater temperatures T(21–28°C) using a tandem aquarium system and the new method for depositing coral skeletons grown under controlled conditions. The δ 18Oc values and the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of the cultured coral were measured. We concluded that the δ 18Oc values and Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios of the cultured coral are clearly correlated with T. The linear regression curve is δ18Oc(‰)=δ0.1427δT(°C)δ0.1495(n=18, r=0.955, p<0.0001), and the slope of δ0.1427‰/°C is at the low end of the range of published values(δ0.13–δ0.29‰/°C). The Sr/Ca ratio decreases with increasing T, whereas the Mg/Ca ratio increases with increasing T, indicating a negative correlation between Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca. Their linear regression curves are Sr/Ca(mmol/mol)=δ0.04156δT+10.59(n=15, r=0.789, p<0.005) and Mg/Ca(mmol/mol)= 0.04974δT+2.339(n=17, r=0.457, p<0.05), respectively, which demonstrate that when Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca are increased by one unit, T increases by 5.19°C and decreases by 15.62°C, respectively. These variations are significantly lower than published values.
