Tyler B. Coplen, Ph.D.
Dr. Tyler Coplen is the Director of the Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory of the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Tyler B. Coplen is an ST scientist in geochemistry. His research focuses on isotope hydrology, development of innovative analytical techniques for isotopic analysis of light elements, provides forensic-quality analytical services to USGS programs, and creates isotopic reference materials for calibration of mass spectrometers and laser absorption spectrometers in isotope laboratories worldwide. In 1974, he joined the U.S. Geological Survey, and in 1978, he set up the Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory, please visit the Reston Stable Isotope Laboratory website. He set up and led the Subcommittee on Natural Isotopic Fractionation (1985–2002) of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) that resulted in a dozen elements being assigned standard atomic-weight values that are intervals, instead of single values, to indicate that atomic-weight values of many elements are not constants of nature.
Professional Experience
Assistant Research Geochemist, University of California, Riverside 1970–1974
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. 1970, University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences, Advisor: Prof. Robert N. Clayton
M.S. 1968, University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences
B.S. 1966, Pacific Lutheran University, Major: Physics
Affiliations and Memberships*
Honorary Member, Commission on Isotopic Abundances and Atomic Weights of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 18
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LIMS for Lasers 2015 for achieving long-term accuracy and precision of δ2H, δ17O, and δ18O of waters using laser absorption spectrometry LIMS for Lasers 2015 for achieving long-term accuracy and precision of δ2H, δ17O, and δ18O of waters using laser absorption spectrometry
Rationale Although laser absorption spectrometry (LAS) instrumentation is easy to use, its incorporation into laboratory operations is not easy, owing to extensive offline manipulation of comma-separated-values files for outlier detection, between-sample memory correction, nonlinearity (δ-variation with water amount) correction, drift correction, normalization to VSMOW-SLAP scales, and...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Leonard Wassenaar
A new isotopic reference material for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope-ratio measurements of water—USGS50 Lake Kyoga Water A new isotopic reference material for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope-ratio measurements of water—USGS50 Lake Kyoga Water
Rationale As a result of the need for isotopic reference waters having high δ2HVSMOW-SLAP and δ18OVSMOW-SLAP values for daily use, especially for tropical and equatorial-zone freshwaters, a new secondary isotopic reference material for international distribution was prepared from water collected from Lake Kyoga, Uganda. Methods This isotopic reference lakewater was filtered through a...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Leonard Wassenaar, Christine Mukwaya, Haiping Qi, Jennifer Lorenz
Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline
Carbonate minerals provide a rich source of geochemical information because their δ13C and δ18O values provide information about surface and subsurface Earth processes. However, a significant problem is that the same δ18O value is not reported for the identical carbonate sample when analyzed in different isotope laboratories in spite of the fact that the International Union of Pure and...
Authors
Sang-Tae Kim, Tyler Coplen, Juske Horita
Isotopic disproportionation during hydrogen isotopic analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic compounds Isotopic disproportionation during hydrogen isotopic analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic compounds
Rationale High-precision hydrogen isotope ratio analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic materials using high-temperature conversion (HTC) techniques has proven troublesome in the past. Formation of reaction products other than molecular hydrogen (H2) has been suspected as a possible cause of incomplete H2 yield and hydrogen isotopic fractionation. Methods The classical HTC reactor setup and...
Authors
Sreejesh Nair, Heike Geilmann, Tyler Coplen, Haiping Qi, Matthias Gehre, Arndt Schimmelmann, Willi Brand
Beyond temperature: Clumped isotope signatures in dissolved inorganic carbon species and the influence of solution chemistry on carbonate mineral composition Beyond temperature: Clumped isotope signatures in dissolved inorganic carbon species and the influence of solution chemistry on carbonate mineral composition
“Clumped-isotope” thermometry is an emerging tool to probe the temperature history of surface and subsurface environments based on measurements of the proportion of 13C and 18O isotopes bound to each other within carbonate minerals in 13C18O16O22- groups (heavy isotope “clumps”). Although most clumped isotope geothermometry implicitly presumes carbonate crystals have attained lattice...
Authors
Aradhna Tripati, Pamela Hill, Robert Eagle, Jed Mosenfelder, Jianwu Tang, Edwin Schauble, John Eiler, Richard Zeebe, Joji Uchikawa, Tyler Coplen, Justin Ries, Drew Henry
USGS46 Greenland ice core water – A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water USGS46 Greenland ice core water – A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water
Ice core from Greenland was melted, filtered, homogenised, loaded into glass ampoules, sealed, autoclaved to eliminate biological activity, and calibrated by dual-inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. This isotopic reference material (RM), USGS46, is intended as one of two secondary isotopic reference waters for daily normalisation of stable hydrogen (δ2H) and stable oxygen (δ18O)...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Haiping Qi, Lauren Tarbox, Jennifer Lorenz, Bryan Buck
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 18
No Result Found
Filter Total Items: 153
LIMS for Lasers 2015 for achieving long-term accuracy and precision of δ2H, δ17O, and δ18O of waters using laser absorption spectrometry LIMS for Lasers 2015 for achieving long-term accuracy and precision of δ2H, δ17O, and δ18O of waters using laser absorption spectrometry
Rationale Although laser absorption spectrometry (LAS) instrumentation is easy to use, its incorporation into laboratory operations is not easy, owing to extensive offline manipulation of comma-separated-values files for outlier detection, between-sample memory correction, nonlinearity (δ-variation with water amount) correction, drift correction, normalization to VSMOW-SLAP scales, and...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Leonard Wassenaar
A new isotopic reference material for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope-ratio measurements of water—USGS50 Lake Kyoga Water A new isotopic reference material for stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope-ratio measurements of water—USGS50 Lake Kyoga Water
Rationale As a result of the need for isotopic reference waters having high δ2HVSMOW-SLAP and δ18OVSMOW-SLAP values for daily use, especially for tropical and equatorial-zone freshwaters, a new secondary isotopic reference material for international distribution was prepared from water collected from Lake Kyoga, Uganda. Methods This isotopic reference lakewater was filtered through a...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Leonard Wassenaar, Christine Mukwaya, Haiping Qi, Jennifer Lorenz
Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline Normalization of stable isotope data for carbonate minerals: implementation of IUPAC guideline
Carbonate minerals provide a rich source of geochemical information because their δ13C and δ18O values provide information about surface and subsurface Earth processes. However, a significant problem is that the same δ18O value is not reported for the identical carbonate sample when analyzed in different isotope laboratories in spite of the fact that the International Union of Pure and...
Authors
Sang-Tae Kim, Tyler Coplen, Juske Horita
Isotopic disproportionation during hydrogen isotopic analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic compounds Isotopic disproportionation during hydrogen isotopic analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic compounds
Rationale High-precision hydrogen isotope ratio analysis of nitrogen-bearing organic materials using high-temperature conversion (HTC) techniques has proven troublesome in the past. Formation of reaction products other than molecular hydrogen (H2) has been suspected as a possible cause of incomplete H2 yield and hydrogen isotopic fractionation. Methods The classical HTC reactor setup and...
Authors
Sreejesh Nair, Heike Geilmann, Tyler Coplen, Haiping Qi, Matthias Gehre, Arndt Schimmelmann, Willi Brand
Beyond temperature: Clumped isotope signatures in dissolved inorganic carbon species and the influence of solution chemistry on carbonate mineral composition Beyond temperature: Clumped isotope signatures in dissolved inorganic carbon species and the influence of solution chemistry on carbonate mineral composition
“Clumped-isotope” thermometry is an emerging tool to probe the temperature history of surface and subsurface environments based on measurements of the proportion of 13C and 18O isotopes bound to each other within carbonate minerals in 13C18O16O22- groups (heavy isotope “clumps”). Although most clumped isotope geothermometry implicitly presumes carbonate crystals have attained lattice...
Authors
Aradhna Tripati, Pamela Hill, Robert Eagle, Jed Mosenfelder, Jianwu Tang, Edwin Schauble, John Eiler, Richard Zeebe, Joji Uchikawa, Tyler Coplen, Justin Ries, Drew Henry
USGS46 Greenland ice core water – A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water USGS46 Greenland ice core water – A new isotopic reference material for δ2H and δ18O measurements of water
Ice core from Greenland was melted, filtered, homogenised, loaded into glass ampoules, sealed, autoclaved to eliminate biological activity, and calibrated by dual-inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. This isotopic reference material (RM), USGS46, is intended as one of two secondary isotopic reference waters for daily normalisation of stable hydrogen (δ2H) and stable oxygen (δ18O)...
Authors
Tyler Coplen, Haiping Qi, Lauren Tarbox, Jennifer Lorenz, Bryan Buck
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government