δ18O Determinations on Tree Ring Cellulose at the University of Groningen

The purpose of this research was to establish a working protocol and a performance baseline for δ18O determination on tree-ring α-cellulose at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) of the University of Groningen, and to investigate the efficacy of on hand reference materials to correct cellulose δ18O values and accurately calibrate cellulose QC standards including IAEA-C3.

To achieve this, a variety of tree ring samples, along with QC standards and certified references were selected and analysed for δ18O via continuous flow Pyrolysis-IRMS in order to determine precision, accuracy and repeatability.