Land-air boundary environment as recorded by the 18O/16O and 13C/12C isotope ratios in the shells of land snails

Mordeckai Magaritz*, Jossef Heller, Michal Volokita

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Scopus citations

Abstract

A yearly cycle of carbon and oxygen isotope composition of shells of the Israeli land snail Xeropicta vestalis is presented. The 18O/16O values indicate that the snails use water from the land-air boundary zone. The 18O/16O ratio of the shells is in isotopic equilibrium with the water condensate from the vapour during the winter months. During the summer months a contribution to the above water from soil water migrating upwards due to evaporation is noticeable. The δ13C values indicate that as in marine molluscs, the carbon isotopic composition in land snails is controlled mainly by the aqueous carbonate compound which is in equilibrium with the land-air boundary CO2.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-106
Number of pages6
JournalEarth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume52
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1981

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