Nuclear volume effects in equilibrium stable isotope fractionations of mercury, thallium and lead

The nuclear volume effects (NVEs) of Hg, Tl and Pb isotope systems are investigated with careful evaluation on quantum relativistic effects via the Dirac’s formalism of full-electron wave function. Equilibrium (202)Hg/(198)Hg, (205)Tl/(203)Tl, (207)Pb/(206)Pb and (208)Pb/(206)Pb isotope fractionations are found can be up to 3.61‰, 2.54‰, 1.48‰ and 3.72‰ at room temperature, respectively, larger than fractionations predicted by classical mass-dependent isotope fractionations theory. Moreover, the NVE can cause mass-independent fractionations (MIF) for odd-mass isotopes and even-mass isotopes. The plot of [Image: see text]vs. [Image: see text] for Hg-bearing species falls into a straight line with the slope of 1.66, which is close to previous experimental results. For the first time, Pb(4+)-bearing species are found can enrich heavier Pb isotopes than Pb(2+)-bearing species to a surprising extent, e.g., the enrichment can be up to 4.34‰ in terms of (208)Pb/(206)Pb at room temperature, due to their NVEs are in opposite directions. In contrast, fractionations among Pb(2+)-bearing species are trivial. Therefore, the large Pb fractionation changes provide a potential new tracer for redox conditions in young and closed geologic systems. The magnitudes of NVE-driven even-mass MIFs of Pb isotopes (i.e., [Image: see text]) and odd-mass MIFs (i.e., [Image: see text]) are almost the same but with opposite signs.