Compositional and temperature effects of phosphoric acid fractionation on Δ47 analysis and implications for discrepant calibrations

An essential procedure to increase the analytical efficiency of Delta(47) measurements requires raising the temperature of phosphoric acid digestion for carbonate materials. This temperature change introduces a fractionation offset in Delta(47) that must be accounted for prior to calculation of temperatures of carbonate formation and to allow interlaboratory comparison of results. We measured the phosphoric acid fractionation factor relative to reaction at 25 degrees C for calcite, aragonite, and dolomite across a temperature range from 25 to 90 degrees C. Significantly, all three minerals behave similarly during phosphoric acid digestion, allowing for a single temperature dependent acid fractionation relationship: 1000 ln infinity CO2(Acid)-Delta(47) = (0.022434 +/- 0.001490) * 10(6)/T-2 - (0. 2524 +/- 0: 0168) where a is the phosphoric acid fractionation factor, and T is in degrees Kelvin. Mineralogical or isotopic compositional effects on the fractionation factorwere not observed, suggesting that this acid fractionation factor may be valid for all carbonate minerals. We also present inorganic temperature calibrations for both calcite and aragonite at low temperatures ( 5-70 degrees C) and find them to agree with prior published data. Using the new acid fractionation factor, published Delta(47)-temperature calibrations are recalculated. This analysis confirms a statistically significant Delta(47)-temperature calibration difference between data analyzed at 25 degrees C versus higher temperatures. The origin of the discrepancy remains unknown, but it appears that the acid fractionation factor is not the cause. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.