This innovative series offers authoritative yet concise overviews of numerous novel isotope and elemental systems. These systems act as 'proxies' or 'geochemical tracers' for reconstructing past environmental conditions across timescales from thousands to billions of years. Each contribution delves into the geochemical principles, potential benefits, and limitations of specific methods, alongside their current status and future prospects. It serves as a dynamic resource for researchers and students exploring Earth system evolution.
Tracking initial ocean (de)oxygenation is critical to better constrain the coevolution of life and environment. Development of thallium isotopes has provided evidence to track the global manganese oxide burial which responds to early (de)oxygenation for short-term climate events. This Element provides an introduction to the application of thallium isotopes, case studies, and future directions.
This Element focuses on the history of discovery of triple isotope effects, the conceptual framework behind these effects, and major lines of development in the past few years of triple oxygen isotope research.
Uranium isotopes have emerged as a proxy to reconstruct the redox conditions of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere. This Element covers the background, methods, and case studies of this promising tool for understanding Earth's environmental transitions, as rapid development continues to refine the accuracy of interpretations of 238U/235U records.