Introduction to Environmental Forensics

Environmental forensics is a relatively new specialty that seeks to answer questions about environmental contamination: (1) Whose contamination is it? (2) When did it occur? (3) How did it occur? (4) What are the consequences and extent of liability? This practical book outlines the advantages and disadvantages of various techniques that can be used to answer these questions and allocate responsibility. Introduction to Environmental Forensics provides the first complete, scientific review of this emerging field and helps readers unravel the complexities of environmental pollution cases. It outlines techniques for identifying the source of a contaminant release, when the release occurred, and the extent of human exposure. Written by leading experts in environmental investigations, the text provides detailed information on chemical fingerprinting techniques applicable to ground water, soils, sediments, and air, plus an in-depth look at petroleum hydrocarbons. Introduction to Environmental Forensics gives the environmental scientist, engineer, and attorney a complete toolbox for conducting forensic investigations. It demonstrates the range of scientific analyses that are available to answer questions of environmental liability and support a legal argument, and provides several examples and case studies to illustrate how these methods are applied. The book's multidisciplinary approach will also appeal to practitioners, including chemists, hydrogeologists, soil scientists, statisticians, and air modelers.

Table of Contents:
1. Applications of Environmental Forensics 2. Site History: The First Tool of the Environmental Forensics Team 3. Photogrammetry, Photointerpretation, and Digital Imaging and Mapping in Environmental Forensics 4. Forensic Review of Soil Gas, Soil and Groundwater Data 5. Application of Stable Isotopes and Radioisotopes in Environmental Forensics 6. Chemical Fingerprinting of Hydrocarbons 7. Chlorinated Solvents: Chemistry, History and Utilization for Source Identification and Age Dating 8. Subsurface Models Used in Environmental Forensics 9. Forensic Air Dispersion Modeling and Analysis 10. Statistical Methods 11. Particulate Pattern Recognition 12. Principle Components Analysis and Receptor Models in Environmental Forensics Appendix A: Chemical Composition of Automotive Gasoline and Diesel (Fuel #2) Appendix B: Applications and Synonyms of Selected Chlorinated Solvents Appendix C: Chemical Properties of Selected Chlorinated Solvents at 25 C

Review :
...the authors and editors are to be commended! The book contains 12 chapters written by recognized experts, each focused on a different aspect of environmental forensics. - Organic Chemistry Chapter 10 ("Statistical Methods") provides one of the most complete and concise treatments of descriptive statistics I've encountered. ...chapters 11 ("Particulate Pattern Recognition") and 12 ("Principal Components Analysis and Receptor models in Environmental Forensics") succeed in making very complex issues understandable. - Organic Chemistry This book provides environmental professionals with an initial look at the current tools in the toolbox and provides a glimpse of tool yet to come. - Organic Chemistry This is a substantial work containin comprehensive, authoritative and well-referenced chapters that focus on topics of relevance to the field of environmental forensics. - Annals of Occupational Hygiene In all, this is an interesting book that responsibly addresses challenging topics in the field of environmental forensics. - Annals of Occupational Hygiene This is a textbook that would prove useful to a range of disciplines, including environmental scientists involved in water and air pollution, contaminated land and geographical information systems; and archaeologists, hydrochemists and geochemists interested in dating sources of pollution. - Annals of Occupational Hygiene