Recent multi-tracer dating of the Black Sea sediments: Recovery of the late post-Chernobyl trends of radioactive contamination

Abstract

The combined use of artificial (¹³⁷Cs, ^{238,239+240,241}Pu, ²⁴¹Am) and naturally occurring (²¹⁰Pb/²²⁶Ra, ⁴⁰K) radionuclides as tracers for dating of the Black Sea sediments has allowed to reveal the recent increase in radioactive contamination of this basin with ¹³⁷Cs after the Chernobyl accident. This is presumably caused by the prolonged input of the man-made radionuclides that showed a rise in the late 1990s - early 2000s, and by a possible post-deposition remobilization of ¹³⁷Cs from the seabed.

Keywords: (137)Cs; Americium; Black sea; Chernobyl; Plutonium; Sediments.