Abstract
THE surface layers of the Greenland ice sheet have preserved a continuous and detailed record of atmospheric fallout of transuranic nuclides from weapons tests over the past 30 yr. The ages of the glacial strata were determined by 210Pb geochronologies. We found that the influence of remobilised soil debris with their sorbed transuranics does not seem to be important, and that fallout maxima occurred in the 1950s and 1960s for 239 + 240Pu and in 1965–66 for 238Pu. This work may be extended by using alpine glaciers in mid-latitudes for a reconstruction of fallout patterns over the past three decades and for an evaluation of present day dispersions of these nuclides as a consequence of atmospheric fallout and other possible entries through the nuclear fuel cycle.
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KOIDE, M., GOLDBERG, E., HERRON, M. et al. Transuranic depositional history in South Greenland firn layers. Nature 269, 137–139 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269137a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/269137a0
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