>Dear Isogeochemers,
>
>Absolutely trouble-free storage of water samples (and of other liqids as
>well) can be easily achieved in simple glass ampules that are commercially
>available from lab suppliers.  Hand-held portable butane mini-torches are
>cheap and can be refilled.  Their heat is sufficient to seal the
>low-melting glass of the ampules, even in the field.  I recommend to
>pre-heat the new ampules in an oven to 450 deg C overnight to burn away
>organic dust, then to keep the ampules in a clean zip-lock bag.  The glass
>can be easily engraved to permanently identify samples.  Once you have
>your samples under glass, there is no worry ever about isotope
>fractionatioin during storage.
>
>********************
>Arndt Schimmelmann
>Biogeochemical Laboratories
>Indiana University
>Department of Geological Sciences
>1005 East Tenth Street
>Bloomington, IN 47405-1403
>U.S.A.
>ph 812-855-7645
>fax 812-855-7961
>********************
>

This methods works fine for dilute waters.  It is the method of choice
for IAEA reference waters.  However, users will need to be cautious
about storing brines in glass for long periods (years to decades) because
oxygen in brines (and perhaps sea water) may exchange with oxygen in the
glass.

Tyler Coplen