Multiple Isotope Fingerprints to Identify Sources and Transport of Agro-Contaminants

Pollution from agriculture and other sources has direct negative impacts on human health. A major knowledge gap regarding pollution in agro-ecosystems is source identification and apportionment, which requires more data, research and integration of approaches. When contamination from multiple sources to an agro-ecosystem occurs, traditional techniques cannot help in evaluating the relative contribution of the different sources. Complementarily to conventional monitoring and mass balance approaches, stable isotopes of major elements (H, C, N, O and S) have the potential to characterize and quantify sources and transport of solutes in agro-ecosystems. Studies have shown that depending on the origin of the polluting source, the isotopic signature of each element could be unique therefore it can be applied to fingerprint the source. This CRP aims to use stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur as an integrated approach to identify and apportion sources and transport of agro-contaminants from soil to water bodies in agro-ecosystems.