210Pb Flux in an Arctic Coastal Region
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic2047Keywords:
Atmospheric chemistry, Bottom sediments, Cores, Isotopes, Lakes, Lead, Trace elements, Alaska, Northern, Barrow, Point, Colville Delta, Lonely, Simpson LagoonAbstract
Seven marine coastal cores and one lake core were collected from a deltaic region in northern Alaska and analyzed for 210Pb. The 210Pb activity levels at the surface in all cores were less than the levels generally observed in coastal sediments of nonpolar regions. The attenuated flux of 210Pb to this region, as deduced from analyses of snow deposits, is probably responsible for these reduced activity levels. Yet the calculated flux of this nuclide to the sediments (about 1 and 4 dpm/cm²/yr in the marine and lake sediments respectively) is in excess of that accountable from the atmospheric flux (0.08 dpm/cm²/yr). Presumably processes such as advection of 210Pb contribute importantly to the sedimentary flux.
Key words: lead, cores, arctic coastal plain, radionuclide flux, air masses, lake sediments
