Nature 318, 349 - 353 (28 November 1985); doi:10.1038/318349a0

Isotopic composition of atmospheric O₂ in ice linked with deglaciation and global primary productivity

M. Bender^*‡, L. D. Labeyrie^*, D. Raynaud^† & C. Lorius^†

^*Centre des Faibles Radioactivites, CNRS-CEA, BP no. 1—91190, Gif/Yvette, France
^†Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l'Environnement, BP 96-38402 St Martin d'Heres Cedex, France
^‡Present address: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, USA.

In photosynthesis, O₂ is continuously formed from H₂O and released to the atmosphere. Coupled with respiration, photosynthesis forms a loop in which oxygen isotopes are exchanged between O₂ and H₂O. During the ice ages, sea water was enriched in ¹⁸O by 1.3 relative to the present value¹. Continental waters in the areas of high primary productivity exchange rapidly with the oceans. They probably presented a similar isotopic enrichment. Since the ¹⁸O of glacial water was greater than at present, we would expect that the ¹⁸O of atmospheric O₂ was also greater than at present. Fireman and Norris² and Horibe et al. ³ have measured the ¹⁸O of O² from the glacial atmosphere by analysing trapped gases in ice cores. However, their data are either too few or too imprecise to demonstrate whether ¹⁸O of atmospheric O₂ has, in fact, varied. Here we present data on the changes, during the past 22 kyr approximately, in the ¹⁸O of atmospheric O₂ trapped in the ice core Dome C (East Antarctica, 74° S, 124° E). The results show that the isotopic composition of atmospheric O₂ has indeed varied along with that of sea water, and that the ¹⁸O (O₂) record offers a tool for studying several important aspects of the global cycles of O₂ and H₂O in relation to the climate.

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