Barium Isotopes
Drivers, Dependencies, and Distributions through Space and Time

A users guide for applying barium isotopes in barite to constrain carbon export, ocean circulation, and marine chemistry through time.

Tristan J. Horner (Author), Peter W. Crockford (Author)

9781108791113, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 22 April 2021

75 pages
23 x 15 x 0.5 cm, 0.08 kg

In the modern marine environment, barium isotope (?138Ba) variations are primarily driven by barite cycling—barite incorporates 'light' Ba isotopes from solution, rendering the residual Ba reservoir enriched in 'heavy' Ba isotopes by a complementary amount. Since the processes of barite precipitation and dissolution are vertically segregated and spatially heterogeneous, barite cycling drives systematic variations in the barium isotope composition of seawater and sediments. This Element examines these variations; evaluates their global, regional, local, and geological controls; and, explores how ?138Ba can be exploited to constrain the origin of enigmatic sedimentary sulfates and to study marine biogeochemistry over Earth's history.

1. Introduction
2. Underpinnings
3. Materials and Methods
4. Case Studies
5. Future Prospects
6. Key Papers.

Subject Areas: Meteorology & climatology [RBP], Oceanography [seas RBKC], Geochemistry [RBGK], Earth sciences [RB]