Abstract
In White Oak Creek watershed in eastern Tennessee, the radionuclides60Co,90Sr, and137Cs were retained by streambed gravels on different sites:60Co was associated with manganese in the hydrous oxide coatings on rocks and minerals;90Sr occurred primarily as an exchangeable cation although small amounts were held in a nonexchangeable form; and137Cs was held very selectively, presumably by illite in shale fragments composing the sediment. The distribution of radionuclides on sediments was size dependent: the 0.85–3.35 mm fine-gravel fraction was higher in radionuclide concentration than the sand fraction. An areal survey of radionuclide concentrations on streambed gravels from throughout the watershed, located numerous contamination sources. These radionuclide concentrations, when combined with both distribution coefficients of radionuclides between gravel and water and drainage area, were used to rank subsections of the watershed by their relative contribution to the overall contamination of the watershed. For90Sr, this ranking procedure agreed with the measured discharges of subsections of the watershed which are routinely monitored.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References Cited
Adams, F., 1965, Manganese,in, Black, C. A., ed., Methods of Soil Analysis, American Society of Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin, p. 1372–1386.
American Public Health Service, 1975, Total radioactive strontium and90Sr in water,in, Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, American Public Health Service, Washington, D.C., p. 654–660.
Auxier, J. A., and D. M. Davis, 1980, Industriaal safety and applied health physics annual report for 1979 ORNL-5663: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 140 p.
Burns, R. G., 1976, The uptake of cobalt into ferromanganese nodules, soils, and synthetic manganese (IV) oxides: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta., v. 40, p. 95–102.
Cerling, T. E., and B. P. Spalding, 1981, Area distribution of60Co,137Cs, and90Sr in streambed gravels of White Oak Creek watershed, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ORNL/TM-7318: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 67 p.
Cerling, T. E., and R. R. Turner, 1982, Formation of freshwater Fe-Mn coatings on gravel and the behavior of60Co,90Sr, and137Cs in a small watershed: Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta., v. 46, p. 1333–1343.
Chao, T. T., 1972, Selective dissolution of manganese oxides from soils and sediments with acidified hydroxylamine hydrochloride: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 36, p 764–768.
Coffin, D. D., 1963, A method for determination of free iron in soils and clays: Can. J. Soil Sci., v. 43, p. 1–17.
Grim, R. E., 1968, Clay mineralogy, 2nd. ed., New York, McGraw-Hill, 596 p.
Jackson, M. L., 1969, Soil chemical analysis—advanced course, published by the author, Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 894 p.
Jenne, E. A., 1968, Controls on Mn, Fe Co, Ni, Cr, and Zn concentrations in soils and water—the significant role of hydrous Mn and Fe oxides: Amer. Chem. Soc. Adv. Chem. Ser., v. 73, p. 337–387.
Kiely, P. V., and M. L. Jackson, 1964, Selective dissolution of micas from potassium feldspar by sodium pyrosulfate fusion of soils and sediments: Amer. Mineral., v. 49, p. 1648–1659.
Kiely, P. V., and M. L. Jackson, 1965, Quartz, feldspar, and mica determination for soils by sodium pyrosulfate fusing: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. Proc., v. 29, p. 159–163.
Kinniburgh, D. G., M. L. Jackson, and J. K. Syers, 1976, Adsorption of alkaline earth, transition, and heavy metal cations by hydrous oxide gels of iron and aluminum: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J., v. 40, p. 796–799.
Loganathan, P., R. G. Burau, and D. W. Fuerstenau, 1977, Influence of pH on the sorption of Co+2, Zn+2, and Ca+2 by hydrous manganese oxide: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J., v. 41, p. 57–62.
McKeague, J. A., and J. H. Day, 1966, Dithionite- and oxalate-extractable Fe and Al as aids in differentiating various classes of soils: Can. J. Soil Sci., v. 46, p. 13–22.
McKenzie, R. M., 1977, Manganese oxides and hydroxides,in, Minerals in soil environments: Soil Sci. Soc. Amer., Madison, Wisconsin, p. 181–193.
Means, J. L., D. A. Crerar, M. P. Borcsik, and J. O. Duguid, 1978, Radionuclide adsorption by manganese oxides and implications for radioactive waste disposal: Nature, v. 274, p. 44–47.
Spalding, B. P., and T. E. Cerling, 1979, Association of radionuclides with streambed sediments in White Oak Creek watershed ORNL/TM-6895: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 44 p.
Strahler, A. N., 1964, Quantitative geomorphology of drainage basins and channel networks,in, Chow, V. T., ed., Handbook of applied hydrology: New York, McGraw-Hill, p. 4-39–4-76.
Stueber, A. M., D. E. Edgar, A. F. McFadden, and T. G. Scott, 1978, Preliminary investigation of90Sr in White Oak Creek between monitoring stations 2 and 3, Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL/TM-6510: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 78 p.
Stueber, A. M., D. D. Huff, N. D. Farrow, J. R. Jones, and I. L. Munro, 1981, An evaluation of some90Sr sources in White Oak Creek drainage basin ORNL/TM-7290: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 36 p.
Tamura, T., 1963, Cesium sorption reactions as indicators of clay mineral structures: Clays Clay Miner., v. 10, p. 389–398.
Tamura, T., and D. G. Jacobs, 1960, Structural implications in cesium sorption: Health Phys., v. 2, p. 391–398.
Taylor, R. M., R. M. McKenzie, and K. Norrish, 1964, The mineralogy and chemistry of manganese is some Australian soils: Aust. J. Soil Res., v. 2, p. 235–248.
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 1979, USNRC Rules and Regulations, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20, Standards for Protection against Radiation, Revised January 1, 1979: U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Whitney, P. R., 1975, Relationship of manganese-iron oxides and associated heavy metals to grain size in stream sediments: J. Geochem. Explor., v. 4, p. 251–263.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Research sponsored by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (operated by U.S. Department of Energy under contract W-7405-eng-26 with Union Carbide Corporation.
Publication No. 2017, Environmental Sciences Division, ORNL.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cerling, T.E., Spalding, B.P. Distribution and relationship of radionuclides to streambed gravels in a small watershed. Geo 4, 99–116 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02415764
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02415764