Identification of ground water contaminations by landfills using precise boron isotope ratio measurements with negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract

Precise boron isotope ratio measurements with negative thermal ionization mass spectrometry were used for the identification of ground water contaminations by leakages of landfills. BO 2 - thermal ions were produced to determine the 11 B/ 10 B isotope ratio, which was expressed as δ 11 B value in ‰ normalized to the standard reference material NIST SRM 951. For example, household waste influences the boron isotope ratio by specific components such as washing powder. In the case of one investigated landfill low δ 11 B values correlate well with high boron concentrations in contaminated seepage water samples and vice versa for uncontaminated ground water samples. Possible boron contributions of rainwater were taken into account, determining a boron content of 2.3 μg/L and a δ 11 B value of 13.1‰ for a representative sample. Such low boron concentrations were determined by isotope dilution mass spectrometry (detection limit 0.3 μg/L) whereas higher contents were also analyzed by a spectrophotometric method. However, different sources of contamination could only be identified by the isotope ratio and not by the concentration of boron.