Hydrogen isotopic compositions and their environmental significance for individual n-alkanes in typical plants from land in China

Hydrogen isotopes of n-alkanes in grasses, tree leaves and reeds from six regions with latitudes of 20° to 39°N in China are measured by GC-TC-IRMS analytical technique in order to understand their hy- drogen isotopic compositions and environmental significance. The results show that a difference in δ D values (from -42.1‰ to -66.6‰) of n-alkanes exists among the same kinds of plants from various re- gions. Hydrogen isotopic compositions of most even carbon numbered n-alkanes in every plant are slightly heavier than that of the odd homologues. A trend toward D-enrichment with increasing chain length of n-alkanes in most plant samples is observed. Mean δ D values of n-alkanes in the studied plants range from -202.6‰ to -130.7‰ and the reed from a salt marsh has the largest value. The mean δ D values of individual n-alkanes among the same kinds of plants from various regions have the characteristics of leaf > reed > grass. The hydrogen isotopic compositions of n-alkanes are apparently distinct among various kinds of plants from the same region and the mean δ D values exhibit a distri- bution of tree leaf > reed > grass. It is observed that the mean δ D values of n-alkanes and δ D values of C27 and C29 n-alkanes in the grasses and tree leaves from these studied regions correlate clearly nega- tively with latitude and positively with temperature, indicating that these values can be used as excel- lent indicators of environment and climate. These results provide important basic data for under- standing the distributional law of hydrogen isotopes of individual n-alkanes and their applied research.