Publications

Bomb fall-out 236U as a global oceanic tracer using an annually resolved coral core

Author(s)
Stephan Winkler, Peter Steier, Jessica Carilli
Abstract

Anthropogenic U-236 (t(1/2)=23.4 My) is an emerging isotopic ocean tracer with interesting oceanographic properties, but only with recent advances in accelerator mass spectrometry techniques is it now possible to detect the levels from global fall-out of nuclear weapons testing across the water column. To make full use of this tracer, an assessment of its input into the ocean over the past decades is required. We captured the bomb-pulse of U-236 in an annually resolved coral core record from the Caribbean Sea. We thereby establish a concept which gives U-236 great advantage - the presence of reliable, well-resolved chronological archives. This allows studies of not only the present distribution pattern, but gives access to the temporal evolution of U-236 in ocean waters over the past decades.

Organisation(s)
Isotope Physics
External organisation(s)
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
Journal
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume
359
Pages
124-130
No. of pages
7
ISSN
0012-821X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2012.10.004
Publication date
2012
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
105304 Hydrology, 1030 Physics, Astronomy, 105105 Geochemistry, 105101 General geology
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/d7f0b025-5576-45b5-a644-f359343765a1