Isotopic behaviour of sulphate oxygen in the bacterial reduction of sulphate

Abstract

The oxygen isotopic ratio of the sulphate remaining in the bacterial sulphate reduction has been found to be dependent on the oxygen isotopic ratio of the water in which the sulphate was reduced by bacteria. This finding is interpreted by a mechanism, in which the sulphate exchanges oxygen isotopes with the water through the intermediates in the bacterial reduction of sulphate into sulphide.