McCoy-West, Alex J., Koutamanis, Dafne, Leduc, Evelyne M.S., and Mahan, Brandon (2025) Geochemical and isotopic (O-Fe-Sr-Nd) characterization of reference materials relevant to environmental impact assessments. Advances in Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry, 1 (2). 986.

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Abstract

This study presents multi-faceted characterization of riverine and marine reference materials (RM) relevant for undertaking environmental impact assessments associated with mining or anthropogenic activities. These include composite stream sediments (JSd-2, JSd-3), marine sediments (MESS-3, HISS-1), a banded iron formation (FeR-4) and a basalt (BHVO-2). Whole rock major and volatile element contents (C, H, S) contents were determined using X-ray fluorescence and an elemental analyzer, respectively. Following hotplate digestions 47 trace elements were determined via solution induction coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Oxygen isotope compositions (δ18O) were measured using an isotope ratio- MS. Stable Fe (δ56Fe) and radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotope compositions were measured using multi-collector ICP-MS. These results demonstrate that caution should be applied when selecting a sedimentary RM given some suffer from significant heterogeneity (e.g. HISS-1) across multiple parameters including volatile and trace element contents and stable and radiogenic isotope compositions. Due to the potentially diverse source components of siliciclastic sediments (i.e. inherited heterogeneity), when conducting environmental impact assessments across certain settings (e.g., riverine; estuarine; marine), a wider uncertainty window should be applied before definitively ascribing subtle differences to exogenous contamination.

Item ID:	90103
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2977-1994
Copyright Information:	This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, as well as a link to the Creative Commons licence, and an indication of changes that were made.
Date Deposited:	17 Dec 2025 22:22
FoR Codes:	37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3703 Geochemistry > 370302 Inorganic geochemistry @ 30% 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3703 Geochemistry > 370303 Isotope geochemistry @ 40% 37 EARTH SCIENCES > 3707 Hydrology > 370701 Contaminant hydrology @ 30%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1899 Other environmental management > 189999 Other environmental management not elsewhere classified @ 20% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences @ 80%
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