Uranium-series disequilibrium, sedimentation, diatom frustules, and paleoclimate change in Lake Baikal.
The large volume of water, approximately one-fifth of the total surface fresh water on the planet, contained in Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia is distinguished by having a relatively high concentration of uranium (ca. 2 nM), and, together with the surface sediments, an unusually high {sup 234}U{sup 238}U alpha activity ratio of 1.95. About 80% of the input of uranium to the lake, with a {sup 234}U{sup 238}U ratio of 2.0, comes from the Selenga River. Profiles of uranium, as well as the extent of isotopic disequilibrium in a 9 m sediment core collected on Academic Ridge, generally show high values during interglacial periods corresponding to high diatom frustule numbers (DiFr) and biogenic silica (BSi) data that have been reported elsewhere. During glacial periods (low DiFr and BSi), uranium progeny ({sup 234}U and {sup 230}Th) were in secular equilibrium with low concentrations of their parent {sup 238}U. Radionuclide distributions were interpreted in terms of a quantitative model allowing for adsorption of riverine inputs of uranium onto two classes of sedimenting particles with differing {sup 238}U{sup 232}Th ratios and uranium progeny in secular equilibrium. If the {sup 234}U{sup 238}U activity ratio of adsorbed uranium has remained constant, mean sedimentation rates can be independently estimated as 3.6 {+-} 0.6 and 3.7 {+-} 0.9 cm x kyr{sup -1} for the decay of {sup 234}U and in-growth of {sup 230}Th, respectively. These rates are consistent with a mean rate of 3.76 cm x kyr{sup -1}, calculated by optimization of the correspondence between adsorbed {sup 238}U and {delta}{sup 18}O in dated oceanic sediments. The adsorbed uranium apparently tracks variable river flow during interglacials and is drastically reduced during periods of glaciation. Evidently, uranium has not been significantly redistributed within Baikal sediments over at least the past 250 kyr and is a unique, biologically non-essential, tracer for climate-sensitive processes, which provide their own internal geochronometers, potentially useful for ages up to 1 Myr BP.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 938334
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/ER/JA-29409
- Journal Information:
- Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., Journal Name: Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. Journal Issue: Sep. 1996 Vol. 142; ISSN 0012-821X; ISSN EPSLA2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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