Residence times of surface water and particle-reactive sup 210 Pb and sup 210 Po in the East China and Yellow seas

Journal Article · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-7037(91)90305-O· OSTI ID:6057823

Nozaki, Yoshiyuki ^[1]; Tsubota, Hiroyuki; Kasemsupaya, Vimonrut ^[2]; Yashima, Mayumi; Ikuta, Naoko ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan)
2. Hiroshima Univ. (Japan)
3. Nihon Univ., Tokyo (Japan)

{sup 228},{sup 226}Ra, {sup 210}Pb, and {sup 210}Po were measured in the surface waters of the East China and Yellow seas. Using mass balance equations for the Ra isotopes. The authors estimated the total flux of diffusion from sediments and desorption from suspended particles to be 0.1 dpm {sup 226}Ra cm{sup {minus}2} a{sup {minus}1} and 1 dpm {sup 228}Ra cm{sup {minus}2} a{sup {minus}1}, and residence times to be 2-3 years for the waters on the East China Sea Shelf and 5-6 years for Yellow Sea waters. Box-model calculations yielded generally congruent scavenging residence times for {sup 210}Pb and {sup 210}Po in the waters of {approximately}2 months on the shelf and {approximately}7 months in the Kuroshio Current. These suggest that reactive heavy metals and pollutants discharged through rivers from the continent to the East Asian continental shelf are largely deposited on the bottom sediments prior to transport to the pelagic ocean by lateral mixing.

• OSTI ID: 6057823
• Journal Information: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States), Journal Name: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta; (United States) Vol. 55:5; ISSN GCACA; ISSN 0016-7037
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540330* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ABUNDANCE
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CARBON 14 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CHEMISTRY
CHINA SEA
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DEPOSITION
DESORPTION
DIFFUSION
DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
GEOCHEMISTRY
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INTERFACES
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
LEAD 210
LEAD ISOTOPES
MASS BALANCE
MASS TRANSFER
MONITORING
NANOSEC LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PACIFIC OCEAN
POLLUTANTS
POLLUTION
POLONIUM 210
POLONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RADIUM 226
RADIUM 228
RADIUM ISOTOPES
RIVERS
SEAS
SEAWATER
SEDIMENT-WATER INTERFACES
SEDIMENTS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
WATER
WATER POLLUTION
YANGTZE RIVER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES