Tracing element pathways and processes of Fe, Cu, Zn and Mo in the geosphere and biosphere using stable isotopes

金属铁、铜、锌和钼在许多重要的物理化学过程中起着关键作用。例如，钼的氧化状态的变化可能与古海洋支持生命的能力的变化有关；金属蛋白对铜的新陈代谢在调节这种氧化还原敏感元素在大脑中的分布方面发挥着重要作用；锌在工业中被广泛使用，它在环境中的存在可能是人类活动的有用指标。这些元素中的每一种都有几个稳定的同位素，据报道，这些元素的同位素组成有相当大的变化。利用同位素组成来了解这些关键元素在地球-人类界面上的作用是一个重要的机会，其最终目标是将这些知识应用于健康和环境化学方面的挑战。这项由探索基金资助的研究的目标是采用稳定的同位素技术来揭示选定系统中同位素丰度的分布和可变性；确定系统中发生同位素组成变化的关键区域和相互作用；以及了解造成同位素可变性的实际物理化学过程。由于这些元素在生物地球化学过程中经常相互关联，我们将寻求综合我们对铁、铜、锌和钼同位素分馏的知识，以产生对复杂相互作用的更全面的理解。我们想要了解为什么铁、铜、锌和钼的同位素组成会发生变化，并利用这一知识更好地理解这些元素在生物地球化学相互作用中的作用。

The metals iron, copper, zinc and molybdenum play critical roles in a number of significant physiochemical processes. For example, changes in the oxidation state of molybdenum may be linked to changes in the ability of paleo-oceans to have supported life; the metabolism of copper by metalloproteins plays an important role in regulating the distribution of this redox sensitive element in the brain; zinc is used extensively in industry and its presence in the environment might be a useful indicator of anthropogenic activities. Each of these elements possesses several stable isotopes and considerable variations in the isotopic compositions are reported. There is an important opportunity to utilize isotopic composition to learn the function of these key elements at the Earth-Human interface with the ultimate goal of applying this knowledge to challenges in health and environmental chemistry. The goals of the research to be supported by this Discovery Grant are to employ stable isotope techniques to uncover the distribution and variability of isotopic abundances in selected systems; identify the critical regions and interactions in a system where changes in isotopic composition occur; and understand the actual physiochemical processes that are responsible for the isotopic variability. Because these elements are often associated with each other in biogeochemical processes we will seek to synthesize our knowledge of Fe, Cu, Zn and Mo isotopic fractionations to yield a more comprehensive understanding of complex interactions. We want to understand why changes in the isotopic composition of Fe, Cu, Zn and Mo occur and exploit this knowledge to better understand the role of these elements in biogeochemical interactions. **