Isotopes of osmium

Osmium (₇₆Os) has seven naturally occurring isotopes, five of which are stable: ¹⁸⁷Os, ¹⁸⁸Os, ¹⁸⁹Os, ¹⁹⁰Os, and (most abundant) ¹⁹²Os. The other natural isotopes, ¹⁸⁴Os and ¹⁸⁶Os, have extremely long half-lives (1.12×10¹³ years and 2.0×10¹⁵ years, respectively) and for practical purposes can be considered to be stable as well. ¹⁸⁷Os is the daughter of ¹⁸⁷Re (half-life 4.12×10¹⁰ years) and is most often measured by the ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratio. This ratio, as well as the ¹⁸⁷Re/¹⁸⁸Os ratio, have been used extensively in dating terrestrial as well as meteoric rocks. It has also been used to measure the intensity of continental weathering over geologic time and to fix minimum ages for stabilization of the mantle roots of continental cratons.