Pacific Proving Grounds radioisotope imprint in the Philippine Sea sediments

Daniela Pittauer; Per Roos; Jixin Qiao; Walter Geibert; Marcus Elvert; Helmut W. Fischer

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.06.021

Pacific Proving Grounds radioisotope imprint in the Philippine Sea sediments

Daniela Pittauer^*, Per Roos, Jixin Qiao, Walter Geibert, Marcus Elvert, Helmut W. Fischer

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Radionuclide concentrations were studied in sediment cores taken at the continental slope of the Philippine Sea off Mindanao Island in the equatorial Western Pacific. High resolution deposition records of anthropogenic radionuclides were collected at this site. Excess ²¹⁰Pb together with excess ²²⁸Th and anthropogenic radionuclides provided information about accumulation rates. Concentrations of Am and Pu isotopes were detected by gamma spectrometry, alpha spectrometry and ICP-MS. The Pu ratios indicate a high portion (minimum of 60%) of Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG). This implies that the transport of PPG derived plutonium with the Mindanao Current southward is similarly effective as the previously known transport towards the north with the Kuroshio Current. The record is compared to other studies from northwest Pacific marginal seas and Lombok basin in the Indonesian Archipelago. The sediment core top was found to contain a 6 cm thick layer dominated by terrestrial organic matter, which was interpreted as a result of the 2012 Typhoon Pablo-related fast deposition.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
Volume	186
Pages (from-to)	131-141
ISSN	0265-931X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.06.021
Publication status	Published - 2018

Keywords

137Cs
241Am
Excess 228Th
Pacific Ocean
Plutonium
Typhoon

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JENVRAD 2017 184Accepted author manuscript, 5.03 MB

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title = "Pacific Proving Grounds radioisotope imprint in the Philippine Sea sediments",

abstract = "Radionuclide concentrations were studied in sediment cores taken at the continental slope of the Philippine Sea off Mindanao Island in the equatorial Western Pacific. High resolution deposition records of anthropogenic radionuclides were collected at this site. Excess 210Pb together with excess 228Th and anthropogenic radionuclides provided information about accumulation rates. Concentrations of Am and Pu isotopes were detected by gamma spectrometry, alpha spectrometry and ICP-MS. The Pu ratios indicate a high portion (minimum of 60%) of Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG). This implies that the transport of PPG derived plutonium with the Mindanao Current southward is similarly effective as the previously known transport towards the north with the Kuroshio Current. The record is compared to other studies from northwest Pacific marginal seas and Lombok basin in the Indonesian Archipelago. The sediment core top was found to contain a 6 cm thick layer dominated by terrestrial organic matter, which was interpreted as a result of the 2012 Typhoon Pablo-related fast deposition.",

keywords = "137Cs, 241Am, Excess 228Th, Pacific Ocean, Plutonium, Typhoon",

author = "Daniela Pittauer and Per Roos and Jixin Qiao and Walter Geibert and Marcus Elvert and Fischer, {Helmut W.}",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.06.021",

language = "English",

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pages = "131--141",

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T1 - Pacific Proving Grounds radioisotope imprint in the Philippine Sea sediments

AU - Pittauer, Daniela

AU - Roos, Per

AU - Qiao, Jixin

AU - Geibert, Walter

AU - Elvert, Marcus

AU - Fischer, Helmut W.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Radionuclide concentrations were studied in sediment cores taken at the continental slope of the Philippine Sea off Mindanao Island in the equatorial Western Pacific. High resolution deposition records of anthropogenic radionuclides were collected at this site. Excess 210Pb together with excess 228Th and anthropogenic radionuclides provided information about accumulation rates. Concentrations of Am and Pu isotopes were detected by gamma spectrometry, alpha spectrometry and ICP-MS. The Pu ratios indicate a high portion (minimum of 60%) of Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG). This implies that the transport of PPG derived plutonium with the Mindanao Current southward is similarly effective as the previously known transport towards the north with the Kuroshio Current. The record is compared to other studies from northwest Pacific marginal seas and Lombok basin in the Indonesian Archipelago. The sediment core top was found to contain a 6 cm thick layer dominated by terrestrial organic matter, which was interpreted as a result of the 2012 Typhoon Pablo-related fast deposition.

AB - Radionuclide concentrations were studied in sediment cores taken at the continental slope of the Philippine Sea off Mindanao Island in the equatorial Western Pacific. High resolution deposition records of anthropogenic radionuclides were collected at this site. Excess 210Pb together with excess 228Th and anthropogenic radionuclides provided information about accumulation rates. Concentrations of Am and Pu isotopes were detected by gamma spectrometry, alpha spectrometry and ICP-MS. The Pu ratios indicate a high portion (minimum of 60%) of Pu from the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG). This implies that the transport of PPG derived plutonium with the Mindanao Current southward is similarly effective as the previously known transport towards the north with the Kuroshio Current. The record is compared to other studies from northwest Pacific marginal seas and Lombok basin in the Indonesian Archipelago. The sediment core top was found to contain a 6 cm thick layer dominated by terrestrial organic matter, which was interpreted as a result of the 2012 Typhoon Pablo-related fast deposition.

KW - 137Cs

KW - 241Am

KW - Excess 228Th

KW - Pacific Ocean

KW - Plutonium

KW - Typhoon

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.06.021

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.06.021

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 28844327

SN - 0265-931X

VL - 186

SP - 131

EP - 141

JO - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

JF - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

ER -

Pacific Proving Grounds radioisotope imprint in the Philippine Sea sediments

Abstract

Keywords

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