Day 4 of #Fossilympics20 and we're in for a ding-dong ping-pong battle in our next event: #StableTennis, where we attempt to find out the favourite stable isotope used in palaeontological analysis.

"Stable isotopes are non-radioactive forms of atoms. Although they do not emit radiation, their unique properties enable them to be used in a broad variety of applications, including [ #Fossilympics20]"

( @iaeaorg: https://www.iaea.org/topics/nuclear-science/isotopes/stable-isotopes)

So, which stable isotopes get utilized most frequently in palaeontology? The four we've plumped for in #Fossilympics20 are carbon-13, nitrogen-15, oxygen-18, and sulphur-34.

#StableTennis

Here's a carbon-13 primer from 1946: https://www.nature.com/articles/157071a0, and a lovely piece of palaeontological δ13C work by Dr @JoHellawell, executive officer of @ThePalAss, and Dr Chris Nicholas of @TCDOnTheRocks: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01108.x.

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis

Here's a nitrogen-15 primer ( http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/PPARC/16plus/partich2pg1.html), and a lovely piece of palaeontological δ15N work by Dr @JoHellawell, executive officer of @ThePalAss, and Dr Chris Nicholas of @TCDOnTheRocks: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2011.01108.x.

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis

Here's an oxygen-18 primer from @NASA ( https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Paleoclimatology_OxygenBalance), and a vaguely relevant piece of δ18O-related #scicomm by @fossiliam for @ThePalAss: https://www.palass.org/publications/newsletter/putting-oo-news.

Here's a sulfur/sulphur-34 primer by Thode (1991: https://scope.dge.carnegiescience.edu/SCOPE_43/SCOPE_43_1_Chp1.pdf) and a study of Cambrian δ34S by Tatiana Goldberg & colleagues ( http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.504.9316&rep=rep1&type=pdf).

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis

And here's the #StableTennis table where you can serve up some iso-TOP facts to help your favourite secure a #Fossilympics20 medal of a different element!

To add a local spin, we will now provide some examples of each of the stable isotopes being applied to palaeoenvironmental analysis here in Yorkshire...

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis

δ34S analysis of nodules, and the colour of chalk in East Yorkshire (and beyond)? Have a look at this paper by Jeans et al. (2016: https://journals.pan.pl/Content/107383/PDF/229.pdf?handler=pdf).

(Photo: Red chalk cliffs, Hunstanton: @WikiCommons)

δ18O analysis of why bivalves in Yorkshire (and elsewhere) were small in the Middle Jurassic? Check out this @ThePalAss study by Johnson (1999: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1475-4983.00088).

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis

δ15N analysis of diet in a Yorkshire cross pig, and its implications to ecology/archaeology? Try this work by Warinner & Tuross (2010: http://references.260mb.com/Bioarqueologia/Warinner2010.pdf?i=1)

and C-isotope analysis of Mesolithic dogs from the extraordinary archaeological site of @archaeostarcarr? You'll need to peruse Clutton-Brock & Noe-Nygaard (1990: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0305440390900468)!

#Fossilympics20 #StableTennis