Preface for article collection “Earth, Isotopes and Organics”
- Keywords:
- Organic molecules, Isotopes, Analytical methods, International standardization
The special issue “Earth, Isotopes and Organics” highlights the latest scientific findings published in Progress in Earth and Planetary Sciences (PEPS). The first submission for the “Earth, Isotopes and Organics” collection was opened on May 1, 2024. The submission deadline on the journal website was June 30, 2025. We sincerely thank the community for the 35 submissions of original research articles (Research article & Methods). This special issue marks the 15th anniversary of the publication of an article collection in “Earth, Life, and Isotopes” (Kyoto University Press, (2010) presenting a continuing tradition of uniting our communities conducting cutting-edge research in these fields.
Earth harbors diverse elements that make up organic molecules, including carbon (C), hydrogen (H), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), sulfur (S), and phosphorus (P). Major inorganic elements, such as magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe), also play important roles in the biosphere (Fig. 1). Many of these diverse elements have stable and radioactive isotopes in their natural compositions, and the isotope ratio analysis visualizes the biosphere in terms of quantitative fluxes in physical and biochemical reactions and distinguishes between biotic and abiotic factors. This special issue contributes to our understanding of life science and chemistry on Earth throughout the biosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere by “isotopically” identifying and quantifying the reactions, processes, and pathways of these essential elements associated with inorganic and organic molecules. This special issue provides an overview of further perspectives on state-of-the-art developments in compound-specific isotope analysis, which will lead processes in the next decades. As a fundamental mindset of scientific activities, refinement of key methodologies requires the accumulation of technical knowledge, experiences, and inter-laboratory discussions across wider generations (Fig. 2). On the publication of this special issue in PEPS, we would like to extend our congratulations to Dr. Naohiko Ohkouchi (JAMSTEC) on receiving the Prince of Edinburgh Prize from the Japan Academy.