Particulate uranium, plutonium and polonium in the biogeochemistries of the coastal zone

Abstract

ALTHOUGH increasing attention has been paid to the role of inorganic solid phases in the chemistry of seawater, little quantitative data has been available to assess their involvement with living systems. We report here recent observations on the uptake of uranium, plutonium and polonium in coastal waters by organisms and submerged surfaces as traced by their isotopes. We show that the body burdens of these radioelements in some marine organisms are governed measurably by the uptake of their particulate forms. Furthermore, these elements are associated with different particulate phases as deduced from the rates at which they deposit on submerged surfaces.