Environmental Forensics

'Environmental forensics' is a combination of analytical and environmental chemistry, which is useful in the court room context. It therefore involves field analytical studies and both data interpretation and modelling connected with the attribution of pollution events to their causes. This is becoming a significant subject in its own right with at least one journal is devoted to the field and a number of degree courses have been introduced. As a result of the topicality and rapid growth of the subject area, is the publication of this book - the 26th volume in the highly acclaimed Issues in Environmental Science and Technology Series. This volume contains authoritative articles by a number of the leading practitioners across the globe in the environmental forensics field and aims to cover some of the main techniques and areas to which environmental forensics are being applied. The content is comprehensive and describes a number of the key areas within environmental forensics - topics covered by the authors include: - Source identification issues - Microbial techniques - Metal contamination and methods of assigning liability - The use of isotopes to determine sources and their applications - Molecular biological methods - Hydrocarbon fingerprinting techniques - Oil chemistry and key compound identification - The emerging role of environmental forensics in groundwater pollution Additionally, the volume considers specific pollutants and long-lived pollutants of groundwater such as halocarbons, which have presented particular problems and which are described in some depth, as well as the way in which chemical degradation processes can lead to compositional changes which provide valuable information.