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Multi-isotope fingerprinting (sulphur, oxygen and strontium isotopes) has been tested to study the provenances of medieval and Renaissance French and Swedish alabaster works of art. Isotope signatures of historical English, French and Spanish alabaster source quarries or areas are revealed to be highly specific, with a strong intra-group homogeneity and strong inter-group contrasts, especially for Sr and S isotopes. The chosen combination of isotope tracers is a good basis for forensic work on alabaster provenance, allowing verification of hypotheses about historical trade routes as well as identification of fakes and their origin. The applied analytical techniques of continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF–IRMS) and thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) only require micro-samples in the low-milligram range, thus minimizing the impact on the works of art.

Water availability for irrigation is a limiting factor for agriculture in Mediterranean countries. An upcoming strategy for increasing water supply is to use treated wastewater for irrigation. A principal drawback of irrigating with wastewater is the potential heavy metal accumulation in soil and foodstuff. Accumulation of heavy metals in soil and potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L) irrigated with treated low quality surface water was studied in a three years experiment. The low quality surface water used for irrigation experiments contained a significant proportion of urban sewage and was spiked with selected heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb) and arsenic before treatment for years 2 and 3. The experiments were carried out during the growing seasons of 2006, 2007 and 2008 on a humogley soil of a commercial vegetable farm, 10 km north of Belgrade, Serbia. The growing seasons started in April/May and finished in August. Irrigation water was treated using (1) a conventional sand filter treatment, and (2) a sand filter combined with a specific filter for heavy metal removal treatment. Irrigation water composition was highly variable and cases both of enrichment and depletion of the measured inorganic trace elements were observed in the treated water, compared to the low quality feed water. In spite of this variability of the irrigation water composition, the soil contents in inorganic elements at the end of the three irrigation years are similar to the initial state. After the third harvest, no impact of the irrigation water on potato quality could be detected except for total sugar and sugar in total solids. Statistical tests (ANOVA) were performed to assess similarities between the different set of samples. The principal conclusion of this investigation is that, when appropriately treated, low quality feed waters with high heavy metal contents can be used for irrigation over several years without significant degradation of soil and produces. Even though, long-term cumulat

The comparative geochemical and isotopic study of confined and unconfined Chalk groundwaters of the Paris Basin and the N German Basin proves a significant chemical evolution during groundwater flow from the recharge zones to the deep confined aquifer. Different time dependent geochemical parameters have been tested as dating tools: Cation ratios (Sr2+/Ca2+, Mg2+/Ca2+), N–NO−3, noble gas contents as paleotemperature indicators (Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe), radiogenic He, 13C, 14C, 18O, 2H, 3H. Cation ratios and 13C show the importance of incongruent dissolution processes in the Chalk aquifer. Water–rock interactions were taken into account in a multi-step dissolution model to determine radiocarbon groundwater ages. The oldest waters in the confined part of the Paris basin Chalk with maximum 14C ages of 14,000 a B.P. contain pleistocene recharge components as can be shown by a stable isotope depletion and noble gas temperatures significantly lower than in recent groundwaters. Chalk waters at the Lägerdorf site in Northern Germany show a distinct stratification with respect to residence times and hydrochemistry.

A combined geochemical and isotopic study of chalk groundwater in the Paris Basin and northern Germany shows a distinct chemical zonation with respect to elements with different oxidation states (O, N, S, Fe, Mn, U) and to measured Eh. During the passage of a “redox-barrier” separating oxidizing and reducing groundwater O2 and N-NO3 are removed. The observed reaction sequence corresponds to the theoretical sequence proposed by Stumm & Morgan (1981) and to those described by Champ et al. (1979) and Edmunds et al. (1984). Measured Eh can be used as a semi-quantitative master variable in order to interpret the observed reactions. Apparent stabilities of redox species are very similar to those in English chalk groundwater.