La référence de la mesure est le 'Standard Mean Ocean Water' (SMOW).
Ministère de l'Environnement
Epstein and Mayeda, 1953. Variation of 18O contents of waters from natural sources. Geochim. Cosmochim Acta, 4, 213-224, Roether W., 1970. Water CO2 exchange set-up for the routine 18O assay of natural waters. Int. J. of Applied Radiat. Isot., vol.21, 379-387 et Horita J., Veda A., Mizukami K., Takatori I., 1989. Automatic Delta D and Delta 18O analyses of multiwater samples using H2 and CO2 - water equilibration methods with a common equilibration set-up. Appl. Radiat. Isot., Vol.40, N°9, 801-805.