This book is aimed at environmental scientists and lawyers who want to know more about the techniques used in environmental forensic science. All of the major techniques are covered, and the strengths and weaknesses of each are described. Real case studies are included as examples. A whole chapter is devoted to how to identify biased data. Early chapters provide a working overview of chlorinated solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons, so scientists can select the most appropriate forensic tools for each case. Later chapters describe the current state of the techniques, and suggest how to evaluate exhibits.

This book is the most complete text available that describes the scientific basis of this relatively new and exciting field. It provides the reader with techniques for identifying the source of a contaminate release, when the release occurred and the extent of human exposure. Prepared by leading international scientific experts, this book contains detailed information on how chemical and isotope measurements, historical documents, aerial photogrammetry, contaminant modelling and statistical analysis can be combined to extract forensic information. Topics covered include chemical "fingerprinting" techniques applicable to groundwater, soil, sediments, and air, as well as an in-depth look at scientific techniques for petroleum hydrocarbons, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and chlorinated solvents. This book details necessary information for the practising environmental forensics expert, ranging from basic statistical methods to state-of-the-art methods such as GC-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry and polytopic vector analysis. Numerous examples and case studies are provided to illustrate how these methods are actually applied and considerations are given for their appropriate use. Sources of potential bias and misapplication of these techniques are also shared with the reader.

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