SIL Services & Pricing

NOTE: Water analysis is temporarily suspended due to device repair/replacement. Contact lab for updates on this process. (updated 3/1/2025)

Sample preparations differ with sample type (solid, liquid, gas) and for each analysis. Proper preparation is critical for quality results and all samples must be properly prepared and ready for analysis. Review the following documents and contact the lab manager Suzanne Ankerstjerne before shipping samples:

Sample material not consumed during analysis is archived for 3 months from the date of submission and then discarded. For researchers within the United States, unused sample material can be returned if requested. Make this request during the submission process and include a prepaid return shipping label in your sample shipment. Additional fees may be incurred if samples are not prepared correctly. Before shipping any sample, contact us to ensure devices are operational and samples are prepared and packaged correctly.

This price list applies to internal (Iowa State University) and external education/research institutions. The corporate pricelist is also available upon request.

Sample	Analyses	Device	Mass Spectrometer	Iowa State customers Price per sample (USD)	External customers Price per sample (USD)
Carbonate (CaCO₃)	¹³C, ¹⁸O	Gas Bench	Delta V	$11.00	$14.00
Water	²H, ¹⁸O		Picarro L2130-i Water Isotope Analyzer (CRDS)	$11.00	$14.00 $12.00 (in autosampler vials)
*DIC_water	¹³C	Gas Bench	Delta XL Plus	$11.00	$14.00
**Organic solids (natural abundance, dried, pulverized, homogeneous)	¹³C, ¹⁵N %C, %N if requested	Elemental Analyzer (EA)	Delta XL Plus	Simple organics: $11.00 Soils, Sediments, Filters, and Carbonates: $13.00	Simple organics: $12.00 Soils, Sediments, Filters, and Carbonates: $14.00
**Organic/inorganic solids	²H, ¹⁸O	TC/EA	Delta XL Plus	$13.00 NOTE: Only one element analyzed per sample	$ request quote

* If water samples are poisoned (e.g., HgCl2), an additional charge of $20 will be applied to your bill for waste disposal.
** Samples must be weighed and encapsulated before analysis.

Additional Services:
Weighing/encapsulation of organic solids – $3/sample

Quality Assurance

1. We use international isotopic standards (NBS 19, NBS 18, VSMOW2, SLAP, IAEA-600, IAEA-CH-6, IAEA N1, IAEA N2, etc.) to place all samples on the appropriate isotope scale (e.g., VSMOW, VPDB). Click here for an assortment of example reports.

2. Click here for the Picarro L1102-i versus GasBench 18O water comparison.

3. We report precision in terms of root–mean-square (RMSE) which combines the correction error with the deviation of the reference materials we use throughout each run.