Experimental study of silicon isotope dynamic fractionation and its application in geology

Silicon shows no variation in its chemical valence in nature and exists mainly in the form of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, so very small silicon isotope thermodynamic fractionation occurs and the resultant silicon isotope variation is limited. Dynamic fractionation of Si isotopes during precipitation of SiO₂ from a solution is a main factor leading to substantial variations in silicon isotopes in nature. In this experimental study, we determined the dynamic fractionation factorα for silicon isotopes during precipitation of SiO₂ from the solution. And in combination of α, a theoretical explanation is presented of the considerably low δ³⁰Si values of black smokers on modern seafloor, Archean banded magnetite-quartzite and clay minerals of weathering origin, and of clearly high δ³⁰Si values of siliceous rocks in shallow-sea carbonate platforms. This paper won the Paper of Excellence in the Second National Young Scientist Symposium on Geochemistry of Minerals and Rocks.