High-resolution profile of radiocaesium deposition in Loch Lomond sediments

• Published in: Journal of environmental radioactivity Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 107 - 115
• Main Authors: Eades, L.J., Farmer, J.G., MacKenzie, A.B., Kirika, A., Bailey-Watts, A.E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.01.1998; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; Pollution, environment geology; Soil and sediments pollution; United Kingdom; Scotland; Great Britain; Europe; British Isles, Scotland, Lomond L; Cesium 137; Radioactive pollution; Pollution; Atmospheric fallout; Accident; Cesium 134; Depth profile; Nuclear explosion; Radioisotope; Lake sediments; Radioactivity; Nuclear reactor
• ISSN: 0265-931X; 1879-1700
• DOI: 10.1016/S0265-931X(97)00054-4

A sediment core from the southern basin of freshwater Loch Lomond, Scotland, was thinly sectioned at 3 mm intervals and analysed for radiocaesium, present as a result of fallout from the atmospheric nuclear weapons’ testing programme of the 1950s and 1960s and from the Chernobyl reactor accident of April 1986. The high-resolution sampling enabled much improved resolution of peaks from weapons testing fallout and Chernobyl and led to the estimation of a sedimentation rate (30·9 mg cm -2 y -1) for which the uncertainty was a factor of five times less than that of a previous study based on a 1 cm sampling frequency. Further potential advantages of high-resolution sampling in distinguishing possible influences upon the vertical distribution of radiocaesium in sediments are discussed.