Isotope analysis is a potentially sensitive method to trace in situ degradation of organic contaminants. In a recent paper, Morasch et al. (3) investigated the mechanism of isotope fractionation during toluene biodegradation using deuteriumlabeled toluene. The authors overlooked that the Rayleigh equation that is normally used to evaluate isotope fractionation at natural abundance level (2) is ...

[1] Longitudinal and diel measurements of dual isotope composition (dN and dO) in nitrate (NO3-N) were made in the Ichetucknee River, a large ( 8 m s ), entirely spring-fed river in North Florida, to determine whether isotopic variation can deconvolve assimilatory and dissimilatory removal. Comparing nitrate concentrations and isotope composition during the day and night we predicted (1) daytim...

Primary features of hydrogen and carbon isotope fractionation during toluene degradation were studied to evaluate if analysis of isotope signatures can be used as a tool to monitor biodegradation in contaminated aquifers. D/H hydrogen isotope fractionation during microbial degradation of toluene was measured by gas chromatography. Per-deuterated toluene-d(8) and nonlabeled toluene were supplied...

Fractionation of stable carbon isotopes upon degradation of trichlorobenzenes was studied under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Mineralization of 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene by the aerobic strain Pseudomonas sp. P51 which uses a dioxygenase for the initial enzymatic reaction was not accompanied by a significant isotope fractionation. In contrast, reductive dehalogenation by the anaerobic strain De...

Isotope fractionations associated with high temperature evaporation provide important constraints on the physicochemical processes that affected planetary materials at the birth of the solar system. Previous evaporation experiments have focused on isotopic fractionation of moderately to highly volatile elements. Here, we investigate the isotope fractionation behavior of two highly refractory el...

Nitrogen (N) isotope ratios ((15)N/(14)N) provide integrative constraints on the N inventory of the modern ocean. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), which converts ammonium and nitrite to dinitrogen gas (N2) and nitrate, is an important fixed N sink in marine ecosystems. We studied the so far unknown N isotope effects of anammox in batch culture experiments. Anammox preferentially removes ...

[1] Recently, calcium isotope fractionation in the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi was shown to exhibit a significant temperature dependency. An important subsequent question in this context is whether the observed fractionation patterns are caused by temperature itself or related growth rate changes. In order to separate growth and calcification rate effects from direct temperature effects, ...

Carbon isotope fractionation during aerobic mineralization of 1, 2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) by Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10 was investigated. A strong enrichment of (13)C in residual 1,2-DCA was observed, with a mean fractionation factor alpha +/- standard deviation of 0.968 +/- 0.0013 to 0.973 +/- 0.0015. In addition, a large carbon isotope fractionation between biomass and inorganic carbon...

Carbon isotope fractionation factors associated with the aerobic consumption of methane (C1), ethane (C2), propane (C3), and nbutane (C4) were determined from incubations of marine sediment collected from the Coal Oil Point hydrocarbon seep field, located offshore Santa Barbara, CA. Hydrogen isotope fractionation factors for C1, C2 and C3 were determined concurrently. Fresh sediment samples fro...