Strontium isotope composition of sedimentary rocks and its application to chemostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

Strontium isotope composition of seawater is homogenous in all oceans and marginal seas but has varied through time with changing strontium fluxes. Strontium isotope ratio of ancient seawater may be reconstructed from well-preserved authigenic minerals and used for dating marine sediments. Because of a change in the strontium isotope ratio between sea- and freshwaters it can also be employed for the determination of palaeosalinities or the reconstruction of diagenetic processes of marine limestones. A review of methodology and practical hints concerning the utilization of strontium isotopes in geological studies of both marine and brackish sediments are presented in the current article.