Although (Soddy, Nature 92:399–400, 1913) inferred the existence of isotopes early last century, it was not until the discovery of the neutron by (Chadwick, Nature 129:312, 1932) that isotopes were understood to result from differing numbers of neutrons in atomic nuclei. (Urey, J Chem Soc 1947:562–581, 1947) predicted that different isotopes would behave slightly differently in chemical (and physical) reactions due to mass differences, leading to the concept of isotopic fractionation.

Isotope geochemistry has grown over the last 60 years to become one of the most important fields in the earth sciences. It has two broad subdivisions, namely, radiogenic isotope geochemistry and stable isotope geochemistry. These subdivisions reflect the two primary reasons why the relative abundances of isotopes of elements vary in nature, which are radioactive decay and chemical fractionation; in this context, “fractionation” is any process in which the isotopes of the same element behave differently.

Isotopes originated with the emergence of elements in the Universe during the first infinitesimal fraction of a second following the postulated Big Bang now generally accepted as having started the dynamic expansion observed today.l Some remarks concerning this seminal event are in order.

The results of experimental and theoretical studies of isotopic composition of natural waters of the Earth’s hydrosphere are analyzed and summarized in this book. These studies represent a modern direction of science of the natural waters actively developed in hydrology, hydrogeology, oceanography, and climatology starting from the middle of last century. The book is a further development and improvement of the earlier published author’s works: Cosmogenic Isotopes of the Hydrosphere, Nauka, Moscow, 1984; Isotopy of the Hydrosphere, Nauka, Moscow, 1983; Environmental Isotopes in the Hydrosphere, Nedra, Moscow, 1975 and Environmental Isotopes in the Hydrosphere, Wiley, Chichester–New York, 1982.

Радиоактивные изотопы, используемые в качестве источников излучений и в особенности в качестве «меченых» атомов, находят все более массовое и разностороннее применение в самых различных областях науки, в особенности в химии, металловедении, биологии, медицине, сельскохозяйственных науках, а также в технике. Все больший круг лиц включается в работу с радиоактивными изотопами.
Однако при всей принципиальной ясности методов исследования, основанных на применении радиоактивных изотопов, их использование требует знания некоторых фактов и общих положений из области ядерной физики, а также определенных навыков в технике измерений и обработке экспериментальных данных.

Stable isotope investigations in the earth sciences continue to grow, maybe faster than ever before. After publication of the 5th edition, tremendous progress has been achieved in many subfields of stable isotope geochemistry. To name a few:

– Applications of Multicollector - ICP-MS has grown rapidly and now enable investigations on natural isotope variations of a wide range of transition and heavy elements that could not previously be measured with adequate precision.

The review chapters in this volume were the basis for a two-day short course on nontraditional stable isotopes held prior (May 15í16, 2004) to the spring AGU/CGU Meeting in Montreal, Canada. The editors (and conveners of the short course) Clark Johnson, Brian Beard and Francis Albarède and the other chapter authors/presenters have done an exceptional job of familiarizing us with the cutting edge of this exciting fi eld of study <...>

This volume on the stable isotope geochemistry of high temperature geologic processes is respectfully dedicated to Samuel Epstein, Professor of Geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology for the past 30 years. Although the topics of this volume encompass only a small range of the applications of stable isotope geocemistry to which Sam has been a major contributor, this sub-field was to a large degree originated by Sam and his first Ph.D. student, Bob Clayton, in the middle 1950's when they made their pioneering studies of oxygen isotope geochemistry and geothermometry of coexisting minerals in igneous and metamorphic rocks and ore deposits. <...>

Задача книги — показать пути развития новой об-ласти знания — ядерной космохимии. Она возникла на стыке ядерной физики, геохимии, астрофизики и других наук о космическом веществе, получивших в последние годы быстрое развитие в связи с запуском искусственных спутников и космических ракет.