古生物試料の同位体を用いた古環境解析  [in Japanese] Analysis of paleoenvironment based on isotopes of paleontological materials  [in Japanese]

This article is a historical review of paleoenvironmental studies based on isotopes of paleontological materials in Japan. In section 1, the historical background of this field in foreign countries is briefly surveyed for the period from the end of the 1940's to the 1960's. The historical development of this field in Japan can be divided into three stages (the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's). The outlines of about 30 papers published during these stages are given in section 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The study of this field in Japan began at the end of the 1960's, using isotopic masspectrometers at ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo and Institute for Thermal Spring Research, Okayama University. For the first period, the fundamental problems of the oxygen isotope (^<18>O/^<16>O) method were investigated. Consequently, it was confirmed that the oxygen (^<18>O) and carbon (^<13>C) isotopes in fossil carbonates provided valuable information for the paleoenvironmental studies. In the 1970's, the isotopic masspectrometers at Kanazawa University and Tokyo University of Education were also used for the study of this field. About fifteen papers which included various aspects of paleoenvironmental reconstruction were published during the 1970's. Likewise, about ten papers in regard to paleoenvironmental analysis by ^<18>O, ^<13>C and ^<14>C isotopes in living and fossil carbonate materials such as shell, coral and foraminifera were published from 1980 to the present (1983). New isotopic masspectrometers were installed at the deriartments of earth science and geology of Shizuoka, Yamagata and Kanazawa University in the 1980's. Further development of this field is expected by the use of these masspectrometers in addition to those which were already been utilized.