Budgets and behaviors of uranium and thorium series isotopes in the Santa Monica Basin off the California Coast

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10149208· OSTI ID:10149208

Yu, Lei ^[1]

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1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)

Samples from three time-series sediment traps deployed in the Santa Monica Basin off the California coast were analyzed to study the flux and scavenging of uranium and thorium series isotopes. Variations of uranium and thorium series isotopes fluxes in the water column were obtained by integrating these time-series deployment results. Mass and radionuclide fluxes measured from bottom sediment traps compare favorably with fluxed determined from sediment core data. This agreement suggests that the near-bottom sediment traps are capable of collecting settling particles representative of the surface sediment. The phase distributions of ²³⁴Th in the water column were calculated by an inverse method using sediment trap data, which help to study the variations of ²³⁴Th scavenging in the water column. Scavenging and radioactive decay of ²³⁴Th are the two principal processes for balancing ²³⁴Th budget in the water column. The residence times of dissolved and particulate ²³⁴Th were determined by a ²³⁴Th scavenging model.

• Research Organization: Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: FG06-89ER60819
• OSTI ID: 10149208
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/60819-T2; ON: DE92015055
• Resource Relation: Other Information: DN: Thesis submitted to Oregon State University; TH: Thesis (M.S.); PBD: 16 Dec 1991
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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BASIC STUDIES