Radiogenic and stable isotopes are a powerful source of information in all branches of Earth Sciences, where they are extensively used to determine the age of rocks, meteorites, groundwater, landforms, deposits and archaeological findings, and to trace deep and surface geological and environmental processes. In the last two decades, technical and analytical improvements have fostered a tremendous increase in the use of isotope geochemical tools opening up new research areas that has not been yet fully explored. In particular, the development of a new generation of very sensitive instrumentation and the effort of the scientific community to set up new methods and analytical protocols have broaden the number of isotope systematics that can be used and improved instrumental precision and accuracy. The school is part of the training activity offered by the doctoral programme in Earth Sciences of the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.

The goal of the school is to provide a broad overview of new frontiers in isotope studies applied to the Earth Sciences and Cultural Heritage. A large spectrum of novel isotope systematics and applications will be presented by an international selection of influential scientists. The ambition of the school is to gather high-quality scientists and PhD students in an international and multidisciplinary environment to explore the full potential of new applications of isotope studies. The school is subdivided into four main themes: i) dating rocks, archaeological findings and water; ii) non-traditional stable isotopes and their application in solid-Earth studies; iii) applications of stable and radiogenic isotopes in paleoclimatology, and iv) environmental isotopes in hydrology.

The summer school is organized by the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Milano (Italy) in the frame of the “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018–2022” grant awarded by the “Ministero dell’Istruzione dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR)”.

The school is part of the training activities offered by the doctoral programme in Earth Sciences of the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy