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Some Practical Considerations Regarding the Application of 210Pb and 137Cs Dating to Estuarine Sediments

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Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies

Part of the book series: Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research ((DPER,volume 20))

Abstract

Estuarine environments potentially provide excellent geological archives and the two radioactive isotopes 210Pb and 137Cs can be used to date the most recent past, under ideal circumstances as far back as 120–150 years. However, some obvious (and some less obvious) requirements need to be fulfilled for the dating-methods to be applicable and estuaries are often challenging environments in this respect. This chapter discusses some of the most common problems and includes suggestions on prudent approaches which should be considered when evaluating the applicability of the two dating methods and when calculating chronologies. The problems include among others sediment mixing, grain size affinity, post depositional mixing and choice of dating model. The discussion is illustrated with examples from tidal flat, salt marsh and fjord sediments from temperate settings but the problems are universal and should be equally relevant for estuarine settings in other climatic zones.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the many colleagues and cooperation partners from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK and many other countries for the opportunity to work on many interesting questions in diverse physical settings ranging from tropical tidal flats to deep Arctic fjords. Part of the work has been funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research, Natural Sciences (FNU) grant no. 09-065969 STORM and 11-105806 POEM. I would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their thorough and useful comments on the first version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Oester Voldgade 10, Copenhagen, 1350, Denmark

    Thorbjoern Joest Andersen

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  1. Thorbjoern Joest Andersen
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Correspondence to Thorbjoern Joest Andersen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Glaciology and Climate, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kaarina Weckström

  2. Institute of Geography and Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Krystyna M. Saunders

  3. Water Research Network, Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia, Mt Helen, Victoria, Australia

    Peter A. Gell

  4. School of Life Sciences, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Gregory Skilbeck

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Andersen, T.J. (2017). Some Practical Considerations Regarding the Application of 210Pb and 137Cs Dating to Estuarine Sediments. In: Weckström, K., Saunders, K., Gell, P., Skilbeck, C. (eds) Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies. Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, vol 20. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0990-1_6

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