Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T19:42:08.219Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Pb-210 sediment chronology: Focused on supported lead*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2012

D. Pittauerová
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany
B. Hettwig
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany
H.W. Fischer
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany
Get access

Abstract

A widely applied method of supported lead estimation in sediments using gamma spectrometric 226Ra determination via 222Rn short lived daughter products relies on radioactive equilibrium between 226Ra and 222Rn being established after sealing the samples. Advantages and disadvantages of methods of 226Ra estimation in sediments, using either 226Ra daughter products or direct estimation by the 186.2 keV gamma-emissions are discussed. An equilibrium experiment was performed using test samples and in one case radioactive equilibrium was not reached. On theoretical sediment profiles it is shown how systematic errors in supported 210Pb estimation can lead to wrong interpretations of 210Pbxs profiles and therefore affect 210Pb derived chronologies.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appleby P.G., in: Last, W.M., Smol, J.P. (Eds.), Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments. Volume 1: Basin Analysis, Coring, and Chronological Techniques (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2001), pp. 171–203.
Zaborska A., Carroll J., Papucci C. and Pempkowiak J., J. Environ. Radioactiv. 93 (2007) 38–50.
Moser R.N., J. Radioanal. Nucl. Ch. 173 (1993) 283–292.
Villa M., Moreno H.P. and Manjón G., Radiat. Meas. 39 (2005) 543 – 550.
Schkade U.K., Arnold D., Döring J., Hartmann M. and Wershofen H., Gammaspectromectric determination of specific activity of natural Radionuclides in environmental samples. 7th Intercomparison “Soil 2006”. (Tech. Rep. BfS-SCHR-41/07, German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Berlin, Germany, 2007) (In German).
Stoulos S., Manolopoulou M. and Papastefanou C., Appl. Radiat. Isotopes 60 (2004) 49–54.
Dowdall M., Selnaes Ø. G., Gwynn J.P. and Davids C., J. Radioanal. Nucl. Ch. 261 (2004) 513–521.
Justo J., Evangelista H. and Paschoa A.S., J. Radioanal. Nucl. Ch. 269 (2006) 733–737.
Bronson F.L., J. Radioanal. Nucl. Ch. 255 (2003) 137–141.
Robbins J.A., in: Nriago J.P. (Ed.), The biogeochemistry of lead (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1978).
Appleby P.G. and Oldfield F, Catena 5 (1978) 1–8.