TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES BY NUCLEAR ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES

Abstract

The recent methodological developments and particularly the recent applications of nuclear analytical techniques (mainly PIXE and INAA) for measuring minor and trace elements in various types of environmental samples are reviewed. The sample types covered range from atmospheric aerosols over miscellaneous air topics (e.g., emissions, wet and dry deposition) to various solid environmental materials and samples from the aqueous environment. A fairly comprehensive overview is given of the research on atmospheric aerosols. For the other sample types, the trends in the research are indicated and selected examples of applications are presented. It is shown that the nuclear analytical techniques are very valuable for the multielement analysis of solid environmental samples. Furthermore, PIXE is particularly suitable for analyzing atmospheric aerosol samples.