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TECHNICAL ARTICLES
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Applications of environmental isotopes in water resources studies in Northern Chile - 08
November
2005
The use of environmental isotopes is widespread in studies of water resources in Latin America. An optimum use of groundwater resources requires a comprehensive evaluation of the water balance of the aquifer in order to extract water at a rate that will not diminish the groundwater resources. The Environmental Isotope Laboratory (EIL) of the University of Waterloo, Canada, has provided the analytical support for several of these studies.
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Interannual Variability in Isotope-Climate Relations in the Canadian Arctic - 01
February
2006
The distribution of stable isotopes in precipitation provides fundamental information about the partitioning of the global atmospheric water budget, and hence about key aspects of Earth's
climate, that cannot be discerned using other means. Although continuing demand exists for monitoring of isotopes in precipitation to define isotopic input functions for local hydrologic studies or for calibration of isotopic indicators of paleoclimate, awareness is also growing of the significant value of “snapshots” of the precipitation isotope fields as benchmark maps of the ongoing and dynamic evolution of the global water cycle. The Canadian Network for
Isotopes in Precipitation (CNIP) includes a 14-year dataset of composite monthly stable isotope measurements from six stations located in the Canadian high-latitudes.
This dataset provides unprecedented spatial and temporal coverage of the Canadian Arctic, which allows rigorous examination of isotope climate.
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Application of Environmental Isotopes in Studies of Biodegradation of Organic Contaminants in Groundwater - 14
February
2006
Biodegradation can lead to transformation of organic contaminants in groundwater to non toxic products under natural conditions (natural attenuation) or as part of a engineered remediation strategy. However, it is often difficult to assess biodegradation at field sites because contaminant concentration vary also due to dilution and sorption or as function of varying water levels and groundwater flow directions. Analysis of stable isotope ratios is a possible way to trace biodegradation.
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Environmental analysis at the Centre for Environmental and Information Technology - 14
February
2006
A new state of the art trace metal clean room facility not related to uwEILAB containing 4 variations of mass
spectrometer is being constructed in the Centre for Environmental and Information
Technology. The mass spectrometer is the most widely accepted detector of majorand
trace-elements for environmental analysis. We will be using mass spectrometry
for geochemical and isotope analyses of groundwater collected from metalcontaminated
mining, power generation and industrial sites, and also from field and
laboratory investigations of groundwater remediation.
Methods based on mass spectrometry are among the most powerful, sensitive, and
reliable available for water science research. Inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (ICP-MS) is an analytical technique which requires the sample (usually
liquid) to be introduced to a high temperature plasma (a gas consisting of ions,
generated by radio frequency magnetic fields), commonly argon, which dissociates
molecules and ionizes atoms. The ions are passed into vacuum where a lens focuses
the ion beam into a mass spectrometer. Here, the ions are sorted by mass and
detected.
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Contact info
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Contact person: A. Richard Heemskerk
Title: Manager
Tel: 1 (519) 888-4567 Ext. 35838
Fax: 1 (519) 746-7484
Street address: 200 University Avenue West
City: Waterloo
State/Province: Ontario
Postal code/ZIP: N2L 3G1
Country: Canada
rkhmskrk@uwaterloo.ca
www.uweilab.ca
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