Correction strategies in deuterium analysis using chromium reduction

One crucial point is to observe and correct for the machine drift (Fig. 1). Consequently, different strategies for drift correction were proposed (e.g. Nelson and Dettman, 2001; Werner and Brand, 2001; Brooks et al., 2004). In this study, different correction approaches were tested for their influence on quality control and their usability in day to day analysis. Water samples were analyzed for D using a fully automated chromium reduction system at 800°C (H/Device, ThermoFinnigan) directly coupled to the dual inlet (DI) system of a Finnigan Delta S isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). Typical run time for one sequence with 52 samples was 12h -14h.