Determination of the delta(2H/1H)of Water: RSIL Lab Code 1574

Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory (RSIL) lab code 1574 describes a method used to determine the relative hydrogen isotope-ratio delta(2H,1H), abbreviated hereafter as d2H of water. The d2H measurement of water also is a component of the National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) schedules 1142 and 1172. The water is collected unfiltered in a 60-mL glass bottle and capped with a Polyseal cap. In the laboratory, the water sample is equilibrated with gaseous hydrogen using a platinum catalyst (Horita, 1988; Horita and others, 1989; Coplen and others, 1991). The reaction for the exchange of one hydrogen atom is shown in equation 1.