Lithium isotope ratios of sampled Precambrian and Paleozoic Mudrocks

Geochemical measurements which quantify the lithium isotope ratios (d7Li) of Paleozoic (541–251 Mya) mudstones. Samples were obtained from various field locations across Scotland, Wales, England and New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada. Sampled mudstones are listed under their formation name, with information on the locations of each outcrop belt and further details on lithological characteristics, including environment of formation, freely available on the British Geological Survey Lexicon of named rock units ( https://www.bgs.ac.uk/technologies/the-bgs-lexicon-of-named-rock-units/) and Government of Canada weblex ( https://weblex.canada.ca/weblexnet4/weblex_e.aspx), for UK and Canadian samples, respectively. Stratigraphic age is given in accordance to the GSA geological timescale v.5.0. Following sampling, specific methodologies for preparation for Lithium isotope analysis are provided in the Metadata Lineage. The data was collected to understand changes in weathering intensity coeval with the Paleozoic expansion of land plants, with lithium isotopes a powerful trace for silicate weathering as they are sensitive to the balance between rock dissolution and clay formation. The tabulated lithium isotope ratios were compared at different temporal stages of plant evolution through the Paleozoic. Samples were collected by the University of Cambridge. Lithium isotope ratios were obtained by William McMahon and supervised by Edward Tipper and Mohd Tarique. Mass spectrometry was carried out by William McMahon and David Wilson at University College London.

Date (Creation): 2025-03-05

Citation identifier: http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13608403

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
University of Cambridge	William McMahon	not available	Originator
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Distributor
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Point of contact

Maintenance and update frequency: notApplicable

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Geology

BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences

Isotope ratio
Proterozoic
Lithium isotopes
NGDC Deposited Data

dataCentre

NGDC Deposited Data

Keywords

NERC_DDC

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: licenceOGL

Other constraints: Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused.

Other constraints: Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]"

Language: English

Topic category

Geoscientific information

Geographic identifier: ENG
ISO 3166_1 alpha-3 2009 revision

Geographic identifier: ENGLAND [id=150000]
British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

Geographic identifier: NEW BRUNSWICK [id=747400]
British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

Geographic identifier: NOVA SCOTIA [id=747600]
British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

Geographic identifier: SCOTLAND [id=140000]
British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

Geographic identifier: SCT
ISO 3166_1 alpha-3 2009 revision

Geographic identifier: WALES [id=170000]
British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation

Geographic identifier: WLS
ISO 3166_1 alpha-3 2009 revision

Begin date: 2021-09-01

End date: 2024-09-02

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84 (EPSG::4326)

Distribution format

Name	Version
MS Excel

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
British Geological Survey	Enquiries	not available	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/accessions/index.html#item187062	Data

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Other: dataset

Conformance result

Title: INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology

Date (Publication): 2011

Explanation: See the referenced specification

Pass: No

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Explanation: See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF

Pass: No

Statement: The weathered edges of the sampled mudrocks were cut, leaving only fresh faces. Sample was ground in a ball mill. 1 gram of sample was weighed. Sample was placed in an oven for 2 hours at 100 degrees Celsius. Sample was weighed (the pre-loss of ignition weight). Loss of ignition was conducted by placing sample in a titanium crucible in a furnace at 500 degrees Celsius for 420 minutes. The sample was reweighed. The sample was digested in HF acid. The sample was analysed for major elements on an Agilent 5100, with the Lithium concentration obtained. The sample was dried and dissolved in 200 microliter of 0.7M HCL acid. Lithium columns were prepared - 25cm in height with 4mm in diameter). The sample was pipetted through the column. The sample was analyzed for it's Lithium 6/Lithium 7 ratios (d7Li) on a mass spectrometer.