The use of natural strontium isotopes as tracers in environmental studies

Naturally occurring isotopes of elements like strontium have proved to be good tools for tracing the past and for monitoring of processes in the present. The spread and variation in⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios make Sr isotopes a powerful tool when it comes to detecting trends in the soil-vegetation system. There is also a great potential in combining different parameters like soil, water, biological material and isotopes for detecting environmental changes over short as well as long time periods. Sampling of the past is a difficult task but biological material, in combination with inorganic material, proves advantageous as environmental archives. There is also the possibility of using museum collections as environmental historic archives. This paper discusses the potential of using the natural⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio as a tracer for environmental studies. The results presented point to an ongoing impoverishment of the environment and show that the temporal trend in Sr isotope composition for different media is similar despite material and location of test area.