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Ice cores from glaciers situated near anthropogenic sources of air pollution provide important archives of the emissions of species with short atmospheric lifetimes. Here we present the history of atmospheric Pu fallout reconstructed from an ice core from the Belukha glacier in the Siberian Altai. Fourteen ice core samples covering the time period 1941-1986 were selected for Pu analysis, chemically processed, and measured using accelerator mass spectrometry. The Pu concentration peaks in 1963, coinciding with the maximum of the nuclear weapons tests and in concordance with the 3H activity concentration peak. The shapes of the 239Pu and 3H profiles reflect two main periods of atmospheric nuclear test activity: premoratorium testing before 1958 and postmoratorium testing in 1961 and 1962. Premoratorium tests contribute about 45% of the integrated Pu inventory. The average 240Pu/239Pu isotopic ratio is 0.18 +/- 0.05, indicating that a large majority of the Pu in the Belukha glacier originates from global stratospheric fallout rather than from direct tropospheric input.

The endogenous concentrations of the essential elements Ca, CI, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, N, P and Zn, and of the nonessential elements A1, As, Ba, Br, Co, Cr, Cs, Hg, I, La, Na, Rb, Sb, Sc, Si and Sr were determined in 5 successive needle age classes. 40 mature spruce trees from 6 different sites were investigated individually. A given element usually shows smooth changes with the needle age class t. Trees on a given site usually have a similar dynamic behaviour. The same holds for the different site means. The concentrations can be approximated by functions c = f(t). Three different types of functions are required to describe the dynamic behaviour of 3 groups of elements that increase with t, and one for the elements that decrease with t. A given element usually can be described by the same type of function at all sites, even if its concentration differs widely. Exceptions are Mn, Co and Zn, which change from a decreasing function at low concentrations to an increasing function at high concentrations. Further irregularities are found at some sites with Ca, Sr and Ba. These findings are corroborated by a multivariate statistical analysis.

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The electrodeposition of the actinides U, Th, Pu, Am, and Cm on stainless steel disks was studied. A sodium hydrogen sulphate -sodium sulphate buffer 0.63M in total sulphate and a ratio sodium hydrogen sulphate to total sulphate ranging from 0.16 (pH 1.8) to 0.48 (pH 1.3) allows the quantitative electrodeposition of the given actinides. No actual pH measurement is needed. Moreover, sodium hydrogen sulphate is an excellent substrate for the wet ashing of organic matter prior to electrodeposition. The method is very robust.