Isotopes of Oxygen
Oxygen (chemical symbol O) has three naturally occurring isotopes: 16O, 17O, and 18O, where the 16, 17 and 18 refer to the atomic mass. The most abundant is 16O, with a small percentage of 18O and an even smaller percentage of 17O. Oxygen isotope analysis considers only the ratio of 18O to 16O present in a sample.
The calculated ratio of the masses of each present in the sample is then compared to a standard, which can yield information about the temperature at which the sample was formed - see Proxy (climate) for details.
Read more about this topic: Oxygen Isotope Ratio Cycle
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