210Pb balance in Long Island Sound

Abstract

A material balance is constructed for excess 210Pb (relative to 226Ra) as a test of the retentivity of Long Island Sound for a reactive heavy metal. Excess 210Pb is supplied to Long Island Sound chiefly by direct atmospheric deposition [1 ± 0.2(dis·min −1) cm −2· yr −1]. Rivers supply less than 20% of the atmospheric flux, and other inputs, from open ocean waters, 226Ra decay, groundwater seepage, and sewage discharge, appear to be negligible. The total input of excess 210Pb represents approximately the flux required to maintain the inventory of excess 210Pb measured in sediment cores from central Long Island Sound; that is, excess 210Pb is lost from Long Island Sound chiefly by radioactive decay. The retention of excess 210Pb within Long Island Sound is achieved in two steps: a rapid removal of soluble 210Pb onto suspended particles and the ongoing entrapment of particles in the basin by the residual bottom-water influx from the east.