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8
Collateral Forensic
Indicators
8.1 STABLE ISOTOPES
8.1.1 leaD
Atmospheric pollution from fossil fuel combustion has increased dramatically over
t
he
l
ast
c
entury.
T
he
u
biquity
o
f
p
articulate
c
ontamination
w
orldwide
h
as,
h
owever,
c
reated
a
p
owerful
n
ew
t
ool
f
or
n
uclear
f
orensic
a
nalysis—Pb
i
sotope
p
roling
(
or“ngerprinting”).
L
ead
a
lkyls,
a
dded
t
o
g
asoline
f
or
t
heir
a
ntiknock
p
roperties,
a
re
e
mitted
a
s
m
icrometer-sized
p
articulates
f
rom
a
utomobile
e
xhaust
a
nd,
a
s
t
he
major source of atmospheric Pb, are a well-recognized imprint of modern society on
t
he Earth’s ecosystem [1].
Lead
i
s
c
omposed
o
f
f
our
s
table
i
sotopes,
o
nly
o
ne
o
f
w
hich
(
20