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Vertical distributions of 239+240Pu activity and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio in sediment core of Lake Chenghai, SW China

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Abstract

Due to the different 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios from different sources of Pu in the environment, Pu isotopes have been widely used for source identification of radionuclides in sediments. In this work, using sector-field ICP-MS, we investigated Pu inventory and its isotopic composition in a lacustrine sediment core collected in Chenghai Lake, SW China. The 240Pu/239Pu atom ratios in this sediment core ranged from 0.166 to 0.271 with a mean of 0.195±0.021, which was slightly higher than that of global fallout. The 239+240Pu/137Cs activity ratios ranged from 0.0155 to 0.0411, with a mean of 0.0215, and the 239+240Pu inventory was 35.4 MBq/km2; both 239+240Pu/137Cs activity ratio and Pu inventory were close to those values of global fallout at 20–30 °N. Three peaks were observed for both 137Cs and 239+240Pu activities in the examined sediment core; they most probably indicated the maximum deposition of global fallout between 1963 and 1964, the fallout from a series of Chinese nuclear tests during the 1970s, and the deposition of resuspended Pu-bearing particles from the Chernobyl accident. Therefore, the vertical profile of Pu isotopes should provide useful time markers for rapid dating of recent sediments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nakaminato Laboratory for Marine Radioecology, Environmental Radiation Effects Research Group, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 3609 Isozaki-cho, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, 311-1202, Japan

    J. Zheng & M. Yamada

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guanshui Road 46, Guiyang, 550002, P.R. China

    Haiqing Liao, Fengchang Wu, Pingqing Fu, Congqiang Liu & Guojiang Wan

  3. Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, P.R. China

    Haiqing Liao

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  1. J. Zheng
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  2. Haiqing Liao
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  3. Fengchang Wu
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  4. M. Yamada
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  5. Pingqing Fu
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  6. Congqiang Liu
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  7. Guojiang Wan
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Correspondence to J. Zheng.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Zheng, J., Liao, H., Wu, F. et al. Vertical distributions of 239+240Pu activity and 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio in sediment core of Lake Chenghai, SW China. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 275, 37–42 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-7001-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-006-7001-2

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