ASSESING GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION BY AN INDUSTRIAL MEGA-SITE THROUGH A MULTI-ISOTOPE (S, O_(SO4), N, O_(NO3), B, H, O_(H2O)) APPROACH

摘要

Industrial mega-sites* are characterised by the multiplicity and the generally complex succession of industrial activities. Consequently, the history of contamination, not always well documented, induces a succession or superposition of contaminant sources and contamination pathways. Assessment of the contamination of the different reservoirs (soil, surface water, groundwater, biota) at a given moment and the related risks for their present and future use as well as the conception of remediation strategics requires indications on both the origin and the timeline of contamination processes in order to foresee their release and propagation in the receptor milieus. Isotope fingerprinting and groundwater dating increase our ability of disentangling the chronology of multiple contaminations; the large choice of isotopic tools offers the possibility of selecting specific direct or indirect tracers of most inorganic or organic contaminants.