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Triple oxygen isotopic systematics of meteoric hydrothermal systems and implications for paleoaltimetry

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Mountains with valley and clouds

We are using the triple isotopes of oxygen of hydrothermally altered rocks to determine the isotope composition of meteoric waters that interacted with the crystalline core of mountain belts.  We have applied this approach to: 1) the Eocene Idaho Batholith.  This approach allows us to reconstruct the paleoelevation of the crystalline core on the Rocky Mountains. It also allows us to understand hydrogen isotope exchange mechanisms when we compare the triple oxygen isotope analysis with paired hydrogen and oxygen isotopes of water bearing minerals (Chamberlain et al., in 2020 Geochemical Perspective Letters; and 2021 in Frontiersin Earth and Planetary Sciences). 2) The Paleogene of Tibet (Ibarra et al., in review). and 3) The Miocene Cascades.