The relationship between deuterium and oxygen-18 concentrations in natural meteoric waters from many parts of the world has been determined with a mass spectrometer. The isotopic enrichments, relative to ocean water, display a linear correlation over the entire range for waters which have not undergone excessive evaporation.
A standard, based on the set of ocean water samples used by Epstein and Mayeda to obtain a reference standard for oxygen-18 data, but defined relative to the National Bureau of Standards isotopic reference water sample, is proposed for reporting both deuterium and oxygen-18 variations in natural waters relative to the same water. The range of absolute concentrations of both isotopes in meteoric-waters is discussed.
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