Isotope analysis for marine environmental studies

Nuclear techniques and isotopes can be efficiently exploited for studying pollution processes of different origin and their connected mechanisms of diffusion. The IAEA Environment Laboratories through its Marine laboratories is since almost fifty years applying these methodologies for environment assessment to sustain member states in a sustainable development of their environment.This review does not pretend to report in an exhaustive manner on the effectiveness of the use of isotope for environmental studies, but it provides a short summary of the application of isotope analysis as tools to track the source and the levels of chemical and biological contamination. Emphasis is placed, in particular, on the use of isotope analysis for the determination and the tracking of organic pollutants.

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► Isotope analysis to fingerprint pollutants.
► Identification of the source of pollutants.
► Historical evolution of pollutants.