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A method for continuous 239Pu determinations in Arctic and Antarctic ice cores
Citation
Arienzo, MM and McConnell, JR and Chellman, N and Criscitiello, AS and Curran, M and Fritzsche, D and Kipfstuhl, S and Mulvaney, R and Nolan, M and Opel, T and Sigl, M and Steffensen, JP, A method for continuous 239Pu determinations in Arctic and Antarctic ice cores, Environmental Science and Technology, 50, (13) pp. 7066-7073. ISSN 0013-936X (2016) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© 2016 American Chemical Society
DOI: doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b01108
Abstract
Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing (NWT) resulted in the injection of plutonium (Pu) into the atmosphere and subsequent global deposition. We present a new method for continuous semiquantitative measurement of 239Pu in ice cores, which was used to develop annual records of fallout from NWT in ten ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica. The 239Pu was measured directly using an inductively coupled plasma–sector field mass spectrometer, thereby reducing analysis time and increasing depth-resolution with respect to previous methods. To validate this method, we compared our one year averaged results to published 239Pu records and other records of NWT. The 239Pu profiles from the Arctic ice cores reflected global trends in NWT and were in agreement with discrete Pu profiles from lower latitude ice cores. The 239Pu measurements in the Antarctic ice cores tracked low latitude NWT, consistent with previously published discrete records from Antarctica. Advantages of the continuous 239Pu measurement method are (1) reduced sample preparation and analysis time; (2) no requirement for additional ice samples for NWT fallout determinations; (3) measurements are exactly coregistered with all other chemical, elemental, isotopic, and gas measurements from the continuous analytical system; and (4) the long half-life means the 239Pu record is stable through time.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | 239Pu, ice cores, Arctic, Antarctic, plutonium |
Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
Research Group: | Geochemistry |
Research Field: | Isotope geochemistry |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the environmental sciences |
UTAS Author: | Curran, M (Dr Mark Curran) |
ID Code: | 114873 |
Year Published: | 2016 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 25 |
Deposited By: | CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems |
Deposited On: | 2017-03-01 |
Last Modified: | 2017-11-03 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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