Use of Natural Variations in Silicon Isotopes to Study the Cycling of Biogenic Silica

为数不多的现有数据表明，在海洋硅藻生产蛋白石的过程中，硅同位素是分馏的。硅同位素比率的变化将被用来研究硅藻的产生和海洋中的硅循环。将使用基于激光的系统来确定无机和生物含硅相中的硅同位素比率，以评估这种方法的实用性，方法是利用南极和温度下的硅藻培养物确定二氧化硅生物矿化和溶解的分馏系数。

The few available data suggest that silicon isotopes are fractionated during the production of opal by marine diatoms. Variations in silicon isotope ratios will be used to study diatom production and silica cycling in the ocean. A laser-based system will be used for determining silicon isotope ratios in inorganic and biogenic silicon-bearing phases to evaluate the utility of this approach by determining the fractionation factors for silica biomineralization and dissolution using cultures of Antarctic and temperature diatom species.