Online oxygen isotope analysis of sub-milligram quantities of biogenic opal using the inductive high-temperature carbon reduction method coupled with continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry

We present a method for determining sub-milligram quantities of biogenic opal. The method employs the inductive high-temperature carbon reduction method for dehydration of opal and reduction of silica, and a continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry system for direct analysis of the oxygen isotope ratio in the evolved carbon monoxide. The accuracy and precision of the online analytical system were evaluated by isotopic analysis of various quantities of standard SiO₂ in the range 40-538μg. The time required to analyse a single sample was relatively short (50min); hence, our method is suitable for routine analysis for paleoenvironmental studies that require large amounts of time-series data. The method was validated for samples in the sub-milligram range and can be applied to oxygen isotope analysis of various types of biogenic opal that have not been analysed because of their small amounts in natural samples. We successfully applied our method to (i) the first oxygen isotope analysis of monospecific radiolarian skeletons and (ii) high-resolution oxygen isotope analysis of Holocene diatom frustules from the Southern Ocean.