Sediment focusing in six small lakes inferred from radionuclide profiles

Abstract

Sediment focusing in six small lake basins is inferred from sedimentary radionuclide profiles. The activities of137Cs and9+240Pu do not decrease to zero above the sub-surface maximum but tail off gradually. Similar behavior is observed in the sediments of three lakes for134Cs and60Co, which were added only to the lake. This upward tailing is not caused by bioturbation or erosion from the watershed. Sediment focusing is the likely cause, further substantiated by inventories in deep sediments of9+240Pu and210Pb that are twice as high as expected from atmospheric fallout. Inventories in deep sediments of137Cs are in several cases lower than expected from atmospheric fallout, and cannot be explained by hydraulic flushing from the lakes, as this would require unreasonable flushing rates. The low137Cs inventories and the sedimentary profiles of the137Cs/9+240Pu ratio are consistent with137Cs removal from the water column by boundary scavenging to shallow sediments. The profiles and inventories of all three nuclides could be reproduced with a simple three box model, assuming focusing of shallow sediments (50–60% of total sediment area) to deep sediments with a rate constant of 5–10% yr−1.