Date (Creation)

2006-06-14

Status

On going

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
GNS Science		stableisotopes@gns.cri.nz	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency

Continual

Keywords

• Stable Isotope

• Volcanology

• Radiocarbon

• Water Dating

• Ice Core

• Paleontology

Classification

Restricted

Language

English

Topic category

• Geoscientific information
• Environment
• Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere
• Oceans
• Inland waters

Begin date

2006-05-07

Distribution format

Name	Version

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link	https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Services/Laboratories-Facilities/Stable-Isotope-Laboratory	Stable Isotope Laboratory

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Statement

At the end of the second world war, the New Zealand Department of Scientific and industrial Research (DSIR) established a small research team to explore the rapidly growing field of atomic science. This was the beginning of the Isotope Laboratory, led by Athol Rafter, Gordon Fergusson, and George Page and attached to the Dominion Physical Laboratory.

In 1952, the first GP Mass Spectrometer was built in house and operating with a single collector which was used for gas analysis. It was then upgraded in 1955 to a double collector to enable sample switching. In 1955, a low-mass Mass Spectrometer was built in house to measure Deuterium (Hydrogen).

In 1957 the Isotope Laboratory was made into a separate division of the DSIR with Athol Rafter as Director, becoming the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (INS) in 1959. In 1959 the Stable Isotope Laboratory was moved to a purpose built Laboratory on its current site at Gracefield, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

In 1964, a Nuclide Analysis Associates (NAA) double collector isotope mass spectrometer was given to the laboratory as part of the US atoms for Peace agreement in which later a triple collector was added to simultaneously measure 13C and 18O in CO2 gas. In 1973, the Low-mass Mass Spectrometer was replaced by a VG602C Mass Spectrometer.

In 1992, The DSIR was split up into Crown Research Institutes (CRI) of which the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences was formed. Later the name was changed to GNS Sciences and the Gracefield site was named the National Isotope Centre (NIC).

Late in the 1990's, the NAA and VG602C mass spectrometers were replaced with Sercon Geo 20/20 mass spectrometers which have now been replaced with Isoprime IRMS and Los Gatos lasers.

The Stable Isotope Laboratory is held in high esteem, with ongoing research and industry partnerships in New Zealand and around the world. The Laboratory can analyse H, C, N, O, and S stable isotopes in nearly any form.

Our most routine analyses are:

• H & O isotopes in water by IRMS (ChromHD and Aquaprep)

• H & O isotopes by laser spectrometry

• H & O isotopes by HEKAtech HT-EA in solid samples

• C, N and S isotopes by combustion EA

• Compound specific C and H isotopes in liquids and gases by gas chromatography

• O isotopes in silicates by laser fluorination

• N & O Isotopes in nitrate via chemical reduction

• C isotopes in dissolved inorganic C

• S & O isotopes from water which is extracted as sulfate

Metadata

File identifier

9bc32ef7-dad3-4af7-b64d-83dc6ed640d0 XML

Metadata language

English

Character set

UTF8

Hierarchy level

Dataset

Hierarchy level name

Dataset

Date stamp

2021-11-10T12:20:48

Metadata standard name

ISO 19115:2003/19139

Metadata standard version

1.0

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
GNS Science		datamanagement@gns.cri.nz	Point of contact