Abstract
Natural and anthropogenic radioisotopes can be used to determine not only the mixing and diffusion processes of water masses but also the sources and sedimentary dynamics of particles in aquatic systems such as rivers, estuaries and oceans. Particle-reactive radionuclides that are derived from atmospheric deposition and/or the decay from their parent nuclides in aqueous system, can be used to determine the removal rates of suspended particulate matter, sediment focusing/erosion, sediment resuspension rates and sediment accumulation and mixing rates. They can be also used as analogs for tracing the transport and fates of other particle-reactive contaminants, such as PCBs and PAH. In this chapter, we focus on various applications of short-lived radionuclides (i.e., 7Be, 210Pb, 210Po, 137Cs and 234Th) as tracers for particle and sediment dynamics to quantify several river, estuary and coastal oceanic processes with their concerned timescales ranging from a few days to about 100 years.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (41021064; 40976054) and the Ministry of Science and Technology of PR China (2011CB409801). We thank the two reviewers (Chih-An Huh and Brent A. McKee) for their critical reviews of the earlier version of this manuscript.
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Appendix: Descriptions of symbols and abbreviation used in this chapter
Appendix: Descriptions of symbols and abbreviation used in this chapter
Symbols | Meaning | Unit |
---|---|---|
\( {A_{Th}}/{A_{Be}}/{A_{Pb}} \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb in the water column | Bq cm−3 |
\( A_{Th}^p/A_{_{Be}}^p/A_{Pb}^p \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb in the particulate phase | Bq g−1 or Bq cm−3 |
\( A_{Th}^d/A_{_{Be}}^d/A_{Pb}^d \) | Activity of 234Th/7Be/210Pb in the dissolved phase | Bq cm−3 |
\( A_{_{Th}}^{sed}/A_{_{Be}}^{sed}/A_{Pb}^{sed} \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb in surficial bottom sediments subject to resuspension | Bq g−1 |
\( A_{_{Th}}^{adv}/A_{_{Be}}^{adv}/A_{Pb}^{sdv} \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb on advected particles | Bq g−1 |
\( A_{_{Th}}^{resus}/A_{_{Be}}^{resus}/A_{Pb}^{resus} \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb on resuspension particles from sea bed | Bq g−1 |
\( A_{_{Th}}^{trap}/A_{_{Be}}^{trap}/A_{Pb}^{trap} \) | Activity of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb on settling particles collected by sediment trap | Bq g−1 |
\( {\lambda_{Th}}/{\lambda_{Be}}/{\lambda_{Pb}} \) | Decay constant of 234Th/7Be/210Pb | day−1 |
\( {k_{Th}}/{k_{Be}}/{k_{Pb}} \) | Rate constant for the scavenging of dissolved 234Th/7Be/210Pb onto particles | day−1 |
\( {\kappa_{Th}}/{\kappa_{Be}}/{\kappa_{Pb}} \) | Removal rate constant of excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb in the water column | day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Th}/\varphi_{Be}/\varphi_{Pb} \) | Removal flux of excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb from water column | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Th}^p/\varphi_{Be}^p/\varphi_{Pb}^p \) | Removal flux of particulate excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb from water column to the sea bed | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \kappa_{Th}^p/\kappa_{Be}^p/\kappa_{Pb}^p \) | Removal rate constant of particulate excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb in the water column | day−1 |
\( {I_{\rm{Be}}}/{I_{Pb}} \) | 7Be/210Pb atmospheric deposition flux | Bq cm−2 day−1 |
\( {A_U}/{A_{Ra}} \) | Activity of 238U/226Ra in the water column | Bq cm−3 |
h | Water depth | cm |
\( \varphi_{Th}^{resus}/\varphi_{Be}^{resus}/\varphi_{Pb}^{resus} \) | Resuspension flux of particulate excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb from the sea bed | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Th}^{adv}/\varphi_{Be}^{adv}/\varphi_{Pb}^{advs} \) | Advective flux of particulate excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Th}^{prod}/\varphi_{Be}^{prod}/\varphi_{Pb}^{prod} \) | Supply flux of excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb from 238U decay or the atmosphere (7Be, 210Pb) followed by rapid scavenging fluxes | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Th}^{total}/\varphi_{Be}^{total}/\varphi_{Pb}^{total} \) | Total supply flux of particulate excess 234Th/7Be/excess 210Pb into turbidity maximum zone | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \phi_{Th}^{resus}/\phi_{Be}^{resus}/\phi_{Pb}^{resus} \) | Sediment resuspension flux by excess 234Th and 7Be and excess 210Pb from the sea bed | g cm−2 day−1 |
\( \phi_{part}^{resus}/\phi_{part}^{adv}/\phi_{part}^{total} \) | Particle flux from resuspension/advective input/total input | g cm−3 day−1 |
\( \phi^{sed}/\phi^{er} \) | Sedimentary deposition/erosion flux | g cm−2 day−1 |
\( {\tau_{Pb}} = 1/{\kappa_{Pb}} \) | Residence times for total 210Pb in the water column | Day |
\( \nu \) | Horizontal flux constant | cm day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Be}^{river}/\varphi_{Pb}^{river} \) | Riverine input particulate 7Be and excess 210Pb | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
\( \varphi_{Be}^{out}/\varphi_{Pb}^{out} \) | Riverine output flux of particulate 7Be and excess 210Pb | Bq cm−3 day−1 |
C PCB/PAH | Concentration of PCB/PAH in mixing layer of water column | g m−3 |
\( \phi_{PCB/PAH} \) | Vertical flux of PCB/PAH from mixing layer of water column | g cm−3 day−1 |
AMP | Amaniamolybdenum (III) phosphate | Â |
SPM | Suspended particle matter | Â |
PCB | Polychlorinated biphenyl | Â |
PAH | Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons | Â |
LSS | Liquid scintillation spectrometry | Â |
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Du, J.Z., Zhang, J., Baskaran, M. (2012). Applications of Short-Lived Radionuclides (7Be, 210Pb, 210Po, 137Cs and 234Th) to Trace the Sources, Transport Pathways and Deposition of Particles/Sediments in Rivers, Estuaries and Coasts. In: Baskaran, M. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry. Advances in Isotope Geochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10637-8_16
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