page_title: Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry
section_title: Coals
hierarchical_section_title: Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry / Observed variations in isotope abundance / Geosphere / Coals
caption_attribution_description: English: Modified by inserting the data from papers by Redding (1980), Rigby and Smith (1981), and Smith (1983) on the map from Annu.Rev.Earth Planet.Sci.2010.38:161-187.
context_page_description: Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry is the scientific study of biological, geological, and chemical processes in the environment using the distribution and relative abundance of hydrogen isotopes. There are two stable isotopes of hydrogen, protium ¹H and deuterium ²H, which vary in relative abundance on the order of hundreds of permil. The ratio between these two species can be considered the hydrogen isotopic fingerprint of a substance. Understanding isotopic fingerprints and the sources of fractionation that lead to variation between them can be applied to address a diverse array of questions ranging from ecology and hydrology to geochemistry and paleoclimate reconstructions. Since specialized techniques are required to measure natural hydrogen isotope abundance ratios, the field of hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry provides uniquely specialized tools to more traditional fields like ecology and geochemistry.
context_section_description: According to the studies done by Reddings et al., δD for coals from various sources range from around −90‰ to −170‰.
  The δD values of coals in different regions are shown on the map.
caption: [93]
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