Flux estimation, temporal trends and source determination of trace metal contamination in a major tributary of the Seine estuary, France.

Anthropogenic impacts on rivers have increased significantly over the past ~150 years, particularly at the beginning of the industrial revolution. Among other signs, this impact is manifested through the addition of trace metals and metalloid elements to rivers. The Eure River watershed in France covers an area of 6017 km and is a major tributary of the Seine estuary.

Pyrite sulfur isotopes reveal glacial-interglacial environmental changes.

The sulfur biogeochemical cycle plays a key role in regulating Earth's surface redox through diverse abiotic and biological reactions that have distinctive stable isotopic fractionations. As such, variations in the sulfur isotopic composition (δS) of sedimentary sulfate and sulfide phases over Earth history can be used to infer substantive changes to the Earth's surface environment, including the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Such inferences assume that individual δS records reflect temporal changes in the global sulfur cycle; this assumption may be well grounded for sulfate-bearing minerals but is less well established for pyrite-based records.