Review of the Lithium Isotope System as a Geochemical Tracer

Lithium isotopes have many advantageous characteristics as geochemical tracers for a wide range of geological processes, covering fluid/melt-mineral interactions from the Earth’s surface to the mantle. The latest developments in Li isotope geochemistry, in terms of measuring techniques, major geochemical reservoirs, the contrasting behaviors during near-surface weathering, and crust/ mantle cycling of materials in subduction zones, as well as the signature of convective mantle, and controlling factors in Li isotopic fractionation are briefly reviewed in this article. With better quantification of partition coefficients (mineral-melt/fluid) and fractionation factors (such as temperature and diffusion coefficients), the Li isotope system will become a powerful geochemical tracer in future studies.