EnvThes – Thesaurus for long term ecological research, monitoring and experiments

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Preferred term

stable isotope

Is replaced by

Definition

  • Some isotopes are radioactive, and are therefore described as radioisotopes or radionuclides, while others have never been observed to undergo radioactive decay and are described as stable isotopes or stable nuclides. For example, 14C is a radioactive form of carbon while 12C and 13C are stable isotopes. Elements are composed of one or more naturally occurring isotopes. All the known stable isotopes occur naturally on Earth. Isotope analysis is the determination of isotopic signature, the relative abundances of isotopes of a given element in a particular sample. For biogenic substances in particular, significant variations of isotopes of C, N and O can occur.

Broader concept

Scope note

  • US LTER controlled vocabulary

Creator

  • herbert.schentz@umweltbundesamt.at

URI

http://vocabs.lter-europe.net/EnvThes/USLterCV_551

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