Plutonium as a tracer of soil and sediment movement in the Herbert River, Australia

S. G. Tims; S. E. Everett; L. K. Fifield; G. J. Hancock; R. Bartley

doi:10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.121

Plutonium as a tracer of soil and sediment movement in the Herbert River, Australia

S. G. Tims^*, S. E. Everett, L. K. Fifield, G. J. Hancock, R. Bartley

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

62 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plutonium fallout from atmospheric nuclear-weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s constitutes an artificial tracer suitable for the study of recent soil erosion and sediment accumulation rates. Traditionally ¹³⁷Cs has been the fallout isotope of choice for such studies, but the plutonium isotopes confer a number of advantages, which can be realised using the ultra-sensitive detection technique of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). As a first application of plutonium to a whole-of-basin study, Pu has been measured in both soil and sediment across the catchment of the Herbert River, which is one of the major rivers draining into Australia's Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. Its catchment includes undisturbed areas as well as regions of pasture and sugar cultivation. The Pu measurements allow the relative contributions of surface and gully erosion from the different land use areas to be determined, and permit the discharged material to be apportioned between the relevant sources. Crown

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1150-1154
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume	268
Issue number	7-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.121
Publication status	Published - Apr 2010

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title = "Plutonium as a tracer of soil and sediment movement in the Herbert River, Australia",

abstract = "Plutonium fallout from atmospheric nuclear-weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s constitutes an artificial tracer suitable for the study of recent soil erosion and sediment accumulation rates. Traditionally 137Cs has been the fallout isotope of choice for such studies, but the plutonium isotopes confer a number of advantages, which can be realised using the ultra-sensitive detection technique of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). As a first application of plutonium to a whole-of-basin study, Pu has been measured in both soil and sediment across the catchment of the Herbert River, which is one of the major rivers draining into Australia's Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. Its catchment includes undisturbed areas as well as regions of pasture and sugar cultivation. The Pu measurements allow the relative contributions of surface and gully erosion from the different land use areas to be determined, and permit the discharged material to be apportioned between the relevant sources. Crown",

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AU - Everett, S. E.

AU - Fifield, L. K.

AU - Hancock, G. J.

AU - Bartley, R.

PY - 2010/4

Y1 - 2010/4

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AB - Plutonium fallout from atmospheric nuclear-weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s constitutes an artificial tracer suitable for the study of recent soil erosion and sediment accumulation rates. Traditionally 137Cs has been the fallout isotope of choice for such studies, but the plutonium isotopes confer a number of advantages, which can be realised using the ultra-sensitive detection technique of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). As a first application of plutonium to a whole-of-basin study, Pu has been measured in both soil and sediment across the catchment of the Herbert River, which is one of the major rivers draining into Australia's Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. Its catchment includes undisturbed areas as well as regions of pasture and sugar cultivation. The Pu measurements allow the relative contributions of surface and gully erosion from the different land use areas to be determined, and permit the discharged material to be apportioned between the relevant sources. Crown

KW - AMS

KW - Erosion

KW - Isotope ratios

KW - Plutonium

KW - Sediment transport

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IS - 7-8

ER -

Plutonium as a tracer of soil and sediment movement in the Herbert River, Australia

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