Rationale

As a result of the need for isotopic reference waters having high δ²_HVSMOW-SLAP and δ¹⁸_OVSMOW-SLAP values for daily use, especially for tropical and equatorial-zone freshwaters, a new secondary isotopic reference material for international distribution was prepared from water collected from Lake Kyoga, Uganda.

Methods

This isotopic reference lakewater was filtered through a membrane with 0.2-µm pore size, homogenized, loaded into glass ampoules that were sealed with a torch and autoclaved to eliminate biological activity, and measured by dual-inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. This reference material is available in a case of 144 glass ampoules each containing 5 mL of water.

Results

The δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of this reference material are +32.8 ± 0.4 and +4.95 ± 0.02 mUr (milliurey = 0.001 = 1 ‰), respectively, relative to VSMOW, on scales normalized such that the δ²H and δ¹⁸O values of SLAP reference water are, respectively, −428 and −55.5 mUr. Each uncertainty is an estimated expanded uncertainty (U = 2u_c) about the reference value that provides an interval that has about a 95 % probability of encompassing the true value.

Conclusions

This isotopic reference material, designated as USGS50, is intended as one of two reference waters for daily normalization of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopic analysis of water with an isotope-ratio mass spectrometer or a laser absorption spectrometer, of use especially for isotope-hydrology laboratories analyzing freshwater samples from equatorial and tropical regions.