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Natural radionuclides in bottom sediments of the saline lakes. What factors determine their concentration?

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Abstract

Concentrations of 226Ra, 40K, 210Pb, 234Th, 238U, 232Th, and 210Po were determined in bottom sediments of 11 Crimean saline lakes. From lake to lake, concentration of all radioisotopes and their total amount varied. The greatest variability was noted for 226Ra (CV = 1.268), and the smallest for total sum of radionuclides (CV = 0.336). In all lakes, the concentration of studied radionuclides did not exceed the maximum concentrations found in bottom sediments of water bodies in different regions excepting Lake Sasyk-Sivash where 226Ra concentration was slightly higher than previously found the upper limit. There are the inter-lake differences and temporal changes in radionuclide concentrations in the bottom sediments. Salinity is not main determinant of radioisotope concentrations in the lake bottom sediments, but may modify their concentrations in some ranges. The behavior of 210Pb and 210Po under anoxic conditions differs from observed in oxic. Authors conclude that there is no any single factor itself controlling concentrations of radionuclides in the upper layer of bottom sediments in the saline lakes; there is multicausal determination. Only coupling of many factors (physical, chemical, and geochemical properties of radioisotopes, and geological, climatic, and biological) determines radionuclide distribution patterns.

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Acknowledgements

The analysis of long-term data and this manuscript writing was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant № 18-16-00001 (for N. Shadrin, N. Mirzoeva, and E. Anufriieva); the field study in 2016–2017 was conducted in framework by the state assignments of A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS (АААА-А19-119100790153-3; АААА-А18-118020890090-2). The authors are grateful to Dr. Ivan Krivega (USA) for his selfless work on improving English of the manuscript. The authors also would like to express their sincere gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments.

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  1. A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas of RAS, 2, Nakhimov Ave., Sevastopol, 299011, Russia

    Nickolai Shadrin, Natalia Mirzoeva, Ilya Sidorov, Andrey Korotkov & Elena Anufriieva

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  1. Nickolai Shadrin
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  2. Natalia Mirzoeva
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  3. Ilya Sidorov
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Correspondence to Elena Anufriieva.

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One of the co-authors (Nickolai Shadrin) devotes this article to memory of his mother, Dr. M.N. Stroeva, which studied the long-lived natural radionuclides in 1946–1957.

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Shadrin, N., Mirzoeva, N., Sidorov, I. et al. Natural radionuclides in bottom sediments of the saline lakes. What factors determine their concentration?. Environ Earth Sci 79, 168 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-020-08915-6

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