On the mass independent fractionations of O, Hg, Si, Mg and Cd during open-system evaporation or thermal decomposition

Abstract

Many experiments in which an element or a mineral is evaporated or thermally decomposed under vacuum are known to consistently display unexpected behaviors. These include too low rates of evaporation, smaller (i.e. closer to 1) than predicted fractionation factors, and an inconsistent behavior of the stable isotope ratios of a given element (i.e. mass-independent fractionation). This applies to many elements including O, Hg, Si, Mg and Cd.

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