title: The vanadium isotopic constitution of petroleum asphaltenes: La Luna Formation (Venezuela).
abstract: High-resolution mass spectrometry indicates that the isotopic abundance of 50V of the Late Cretaceous La Luna petroleum asphaltenes of marine origin (highly enriched with V > 2000 ppm) is higher by about 3.5% than that of the inorganic source (VOSO4 x 5H2O, Merck). We propose that the difference in the 50V/51V values between the La Luna petroleum asphaltenes and the inorganic source can be best ascribed to the biological processing of seawater vanadium. The fact that the V isotopic compositions of petroleum asphaltenes vary over a very narrow range (2.46-2.52) suggests essentially the same (or similar) and fixed biological source of vanadium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Nis, Yugoslavia.
authors.forename: P I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Premović
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Tonsa
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: López
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pavlović
authors.forename: O M
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Nesković
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: LoMonaco
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Dordević
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Veljković
mesh_terms: D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D007554:Isotopes; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D010578:Petroleum; D014639:Vanadium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014687:Venezuela
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D007554:Isotopes; D010578:Petroleum; D014639:Vanadium; C006647:asphalt