Biological, physical, and geological processes all impact the distribution of isotopes within the ocean environment, making analyses of isotopic compositions a mainstay of the chemical perspective of oceanography. Interpretating these isotopic distributions has helped make chemical oceanography a strongly interdisciplinary science. Small contrasts in stable isotope compositions carry information for discriminating sources of an element, such as the fraction of atmospheric CO2 that has originated from fossil fuel combustion, and evaluating the rates of processes like photosynthesis and respiration. Stable isotope signatures can persist over geologic time, even through severe changes in temperature and chemical composition, allowing isotopic distributions within fossils to provide information about the temperatures and partitioning of elements among different reservoirs in ancient environments.
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