Determination of natural Cu-isotope variation by plasma-source mass spectrometry: implications for use as geochemical tracers

Copper and tin isotopic analysis of ancient bronzes for archaeological investigation: development and validation of a suitable analytical methodology

“…For Cu isotopic analysis, two elements are commonly used for this purpose, Zn [5,[43][44][45][46][47][48] and Ni [49][50][51][52][53][54]. According to the literature, both elements seem to be well-suited for mass bias correction affecting the Cu isotope ratio, although marginal precision improvements have been recorded when Ni is used [49][50][51][52][53][54].…”

“…Isotopic analysis, in particular, is a very powerful tool for discrimination purposes and for provenance studies and is therefore presently replacing and/or complementing the more traditional multi-element analysis in the context of archaeometry [1][2][3]. Owing to the introduction of multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) instruments, the interest for isotopic analysis has grown considerably, not only for elements with radiogenic nuclides (such as Pb, Sr, or Nd) [3], for which larger isotopic variations are observed in nature, but also for "non-traditional" stable isotopic systems (such as those of Cu or Sn), showing smaller variation, mainly due to mass-dependent isotope fractionation [4][5][6][7][8]. At this point, systematic studies are still needed to fully assess the possibilities of these nontraditional isotopic systems in the field of archaeometry, starting from optimization of the analytical methodology, at a later stage deployed for trying to relate the isotopic information to, e.g., geographical origin of raw materials, mining activities, manufacturing technology, and/or trade routes [9,10].…”

Evaluation of UV-fs-LA-MC-ICP-MS for Precise in situ Copper Isotopic Microanalysis of Cubanite

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] As a result, the residual primary copper-rich minerals (Cu(I)) have their δ 65 Cu values shifted toward lower values as the leaching processes proceed. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] In the case of our sample, primary cubanite grains near the weathered surface of the sample were significantly affected by dissolution during low-temperature oxidation and weathering processes, and copper (Cu(I)) in the cubanite grains was probably leached, and precipitated as thin secondary minerals (malachite) (Cu(II)). Thus, these grains show lower δ…”

“…2 This variation is quite large compared with other non-traditional stable isotopes (e.g., Fe and Zn), 1 presumably due to significant isotope fractionations during redox reactions (oxidation states 0, +1 and +2 of Cu are not uncommon in nature, compared with Fe and Zn) that occurred at relatively low temperatures. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Therefore, the copper isotopes are potentially an excellent tracer of geological and biological processes.…”

“…[4][5][6][7]17 To evaluate the matrix effects of iron and sulfur on our copper isotope analyses, we added iron and sulfur at concentrations higher than in the cubanite samples (Fe/Cu > 2; S/Cu > 3) to a NIST-SRM 976 solution. The resulting 65 Cu/…”