87Sr/86Sr isotope composition of bottled British mineral waters for environmental and forensic purposes

Mineral waters in Britain show a wide range of 87Sr/86Sr isotope compositions ranging between 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7059 from Carboniferous volcanic rock sources in Dunbartonshire, Scotland to 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7207 in the Dalradian aquifer of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The 87Sr/86Sr composition of the waters shows a general correlation with the aquifer rocks, resulting in the waters from older rocks having a more radiogenic signature than those from younger rocks. This wide range of values means that the Sr isotope composition of mineral water has applications in a number of types of studies. In the modern commercial context, it provides a way of fingerprinting the various mineral waters and hence provides a method for recognising and reducing fraud. From an environmental perspective, it provides the first spatial distribution of bio-available 87Sr/86Sr in Britain that can be used in modern, historical and archaeological studies.