Investigating strontium isotope linkage between biominerals (uroliths), drinking water and environmental matrices.

This study presents the mineralogy and strontium isotope ratio (87Sr/86Sr) of 21 pathological biominerals (bladder and kidney stones) collected from patients admitted between 2018 and 2020 at the Department of Urology of the San Pio Hospital (Benevento, southern Italy). Urinary stones belong to the calcium oxalate, purine or calcium phosphate mineralogy types. Their corresponding 87Sr/86Sr range from 0.707607 for an uricite sample to 0.709970 for a weddellite one, and seem to be partly discriminated based on the mineralogy. The comparison with the isotope characteristics of 38 representative Italian bottled and tap drinking waters show a general overlap in 87Sr/86Sr with the biominerals. However, on a smaller geographic area (Campania Region), we observe small 87Sr/86Sr differences between the biominerals and local waters. This may be explained by external Sr inputs for example from agriculture practices, inhaled aerosols (i.e., particulate matter), animal manure and sewage, non-regional foods. Nevertheless, biominerals of patients that stated to drink and eat local water/wines and foods every day exhibited a narrower 87Sr/86Sr range roughly matching the typical isotope ratios of local geological materials and waters, as well as those of archaeological biominerals from the same area. Finally, we conclude that the strontium isotope signature of urinary stones may reflect that of the environmental matrices surrounding patients, but future investigations are recommended to ultimately establish the potential for pathological biominerals as reliable biomonitoring proxies, taking into the account the contribution of the external sources of Sr.

Assessing methane oxidation under landfill covers and its contribution to the above atmospheric CO2 levels: the added value of the isotope (δ¹³C and δ¹8O CO2; δ¹³C and δD CH4) approach.

We are presenting here a multi-isotope approach (δ¹³C and δ¹8O of CO2; δ¹³C and δD of CH4) to assess (i) the level(s) of methane oxidation during waste biodegradation and its migration through a landfill cover in Sonzay (France), and (ii) its contribution to the atmospheric CO2 levels above the surface. The isotope approach is compared to the more conventional mass balance approach. Results from the two techniques are comparable and show that the CH4 oxidation under the landfill cover is heterogenous, with low oxidation percentages in samples showing high biogas fluxes, which was expected in clay covers presenting fissures, through which CH4 is rapidly transported. At shallow depth, more immobile biogas pockets show a higher level of CH4 oxidation by the methanotrophic bacteria. δ¹³C of CO2 samples taken at different heights (from below the cover up to 8m above the ground level) were also used to identify and assess the relative contributions of its main sources both under the landfill cover and in the surrounding atmosphere.

Isotope composition of Zelkova serrata leaves as an indicator of atmospheric pollution in Japan.

In spite of increasing concern regarding the effects of greenhouse gases, atmospheric CO2 concentration continues to increase, with current levels now as high as 370 ppm. This elevated CO2 concentration influences not only atmospheric characteristics, but also ground vegetation: leaf structure, chemical composition and carbon-isotope composition are all affected. It was with this in mind that we investigated the viability of coupling an isotopic and a botanical approach to determine leaf interaction in relation to atmospheric pollution levels. Results show that, among the botanical indexes considered, the most reliable proxy of atmospheric CO2 levels would appear to be leaf mass per area (LMA), which increases with pollution. Our study also shows that LMA determination coupled with carbon-isotope compositions is a sensitive tracer of the local pollution-level variations.