Transport of 137Cs, 241Am and Pu isotopes in the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea

Lujaniené, G.; Remeikaitė-Nikienė, Nijolė; Garnaga, Galina; Jokšas, Kęstutis; Šilobritienė, B.; Stankevičius, Algirdas; Šemčuk, Sergej; Kulakauskaitė, I.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2013.09.013

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The Chernobyl accident may be excluded as a significant source of plutonium contamination on Svalbard since although some amounts of this element were released, they were transported mostly attached to relatively large aerosols (“hot particles”) which were not found further north than the Southern Finland (Paatero et al 2010 ; Salminen-Paatero et al 2014 ). The elevated 238 Pu/ 239 + 240 Pu activity ratios were also reported by Dowdall et al ( 2005b ) on Svalbard and Lujaniené et al ( 2014 ) in Lithuania.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Sources and pathways of artificial radionuclides to soils at a High Arctic site

Łokas

Bartmiński

Wachniew

et al. 2014

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Activity concentrations, inventories and activity ratios of 137Cs, 238Pu, 239 + 240Pu and 241Am in soil profiles were surveyed in the dry tundra and the adjoining proglacial zones of glaciers at a High Arctic site on Svalbard. Vertical profiles of radionuclide activities were determined in up to 14-cm-thick soil sequences. Additionally, soil properties (pH, organic matter, texture, mineral composition and sorption capacity) were analyzed. Results obtained in this study revealed a large range of activity concentrations and inventories of the fallout radionuclides from the undetectable to the uncommonly high levels (inventories of 30,900 ± 940, 47 ± 6, 886 ± 80 and 296 ± 19 Bq/m2 for 137Cs, 238Pu, 239 + 240Pu and 241Am, respectively) found in two profiles from the proglacial zone. Concentration of these initially airborne radionuclides in the proglacial zone soils is related to their accumulation in cryoconites that have a large ability to concentrate trace metals. The cryoconites develop on the surface of glaciers, and the material they accumulate is deposited on land surface after the glaciers retreat. The radionuclide inventories in the tundra soils, which effectively retain radionuclides due to high organic matter contents, were comparable to the global fallout deposition for this region of the world. The 238Pu/239 + 240Pu activity ratios for tundra soils suggested global fallout as the dominant source of Pu. The 238Pu/239 + 240Pu and 239 + 240Pu/137Cs activity ratios in the proglacial soils pointed to possible contributions of these radionuclides from other, unidentified sources.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-014-3163-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Sources and pathways of artificial radionuclides to soils at a High Arctic site

Łokas

Bartmiński

Wachniew

et al. 2014

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…However, no strong correlation was observed for TOC with δ 13 C and Δ C values found at station R7 in the Baltic Sea can be explained by a different pattern of water circulation since this station is located in the accumulation zone at the Nemunas River crease. A different pattern of contaminant behavior at this station was found in previous studies as well (Lujanienė et al 2005(Lujanienė et al , 2014.…”

Section: Sedimentscontrasting

confidence: 42%

Δ¹⁴C and δ¹³C Variations in Organic Fractions of Baltic Sea Sediments

Lujaniené¹,

Mažeika²,

Li³

et al. 2015

Radiocarbon

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ABSTRACT. This article investigates variations of Δ 14 C and δ 13C of total organic carbon (TOC) in sediments as well as in humic acids, lipid, and phospholipid fractions isolated from the surface (0-3 cm) sediment samples collected in the Curonian Lagoon and in the Baltic Sea. This study was performed to estimate relative contributions of the marine and terrestrial inputs to organic carbon in sediments, to assess a possible effect of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination on radiocarbon signatures, and to elucidate a possible leakage of chemical warfare agents (CWA) at the Gotland Deep dumpsite. Depleted Δ 14 C values of the TOC (down to -453‰) and of the total lipid extracts (down to -812.4‰) were detected at the CWA dumpsite. Application of the compound-specific method indicated a possible effect of CWA on depleted Δ 14 C and δ 13 C values in the investigated organic carbon fractions. The obtained results have indicated the different origin and behavior of lipids and TOC at the CWA dumpsite as compared to the area affected by the terrestrial-freshwater OC input. The Δ 14 C data of the TOC and total lipid extracts showed that recent sediments at the CWA dumpsite contain an excess of fossil carbon capable of influencing the 14 C dating at the site.

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“…The 135 Cs/ 137 Cs atomic ratios in seawater collected from Danish straits and the Baltic Sea showed a similar value (0.98-1.12), while a 2 times higher 135 Cs/ 137 Cs atomic ratio The Baltic Sea has received large amounts of radiocesium from the Chernobyl accident in 1986, which resulted in a significantly increased 137 Cs level from about 12 Bq m -3 before accident to 500 Bq m -3 in north Baltic Sea and to 84 Bq m -3 in south Baltic Sea [38]. The 137 Cs level in seawater of south Baltic Sea has been gradually decreased since 1986 due to radioactive decay, dilution of fresh water and water exchange with North Sea and North Atlantic, and down to ~30 Bq m -3 in Lithuanian coastal water in 2012 [39], and about 20 Bq m -3 in the Danish straits in 2017 [40]. The measured 137 Cs concentration in seawater collected from the north coast of Bornholm island in south Baltic Sea was comparable to that in south Danish straits.…”

Section: Distribution Of 135mentioning

confidence: 99%