Continuous transport of Pacific-derived anthropogenic radionuclides towards the Indian Ocean
Date
2017
Authors
Pittauerova, Daniela
Tims, Stephen
Froehlich (previously Srncik), Michaela
Fifield, L Keith
Wallner, Anton
McNeil, Steven
Fischer, Helmut W.
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Nature Publishing Group
Abstract
Unusually high concentrations of americium and plutonium have been observed in a sediment core collected from the eastern Lombok Basin between Sumba and Sumbawa Islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. Gamma spectrometry and accelerator mass spectrometry data together with radiometric dating of the core provide a high-resolution record of ongoing deposition of anthropogenic radionuclides. A plutonium signature characteristic of the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG) dominates in the first two decades after the start of the high yield atmospheric tests in 1950’s. Approximately 40–70% of plutonium at this site in the post 1970 period originates from the PPG. This sediment record of transuranic isotopes deposition over the last 55 years provides evidence for the continuous long-distance transport of particle-reactive radionuclides from the Pacific Ocean towards the Indian Ocean
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Scientific Reports
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Journal article
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Open Access
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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