f Calibrating Clumped Isotopes to Measure the Temperature of Diagenetic Modifications in Carbonate Reservoirs: A Behind the Scene Look at a Novel Approach

The “clumped isotope carbonate paleothermomether” can determine within a few degrees the temperature of formation of a carbonate mineral without having to know the composition of the fluid from which it precipitates. The novel field of clumped isotopes geochemistry relies on the natural abundance of CO2 molecules containing two heavy isotopes (i.e. 13C18O16O with a mass of 47), which are temperature-dependant because more ordered systems are more stable at low temperatures. Temperatures are thus determined by measuring the differences between a theoretical stochastic distribution of the isotopes among the molecules and their actual distribution in the lattice of the carbonate crystal.