137Cs contamination in the Adamello glacier: Improving the analytical method

Abstract

An alpine ice core, extracted from the Adamello glacier (Central Italian Alps), was analyzed in its entire length through low background γ-spectroscopy, for the detection of ¹³⁷Cs. Our results show that in glacier ice ¹³⁷Cs is tightly bound to insoluble particulate matter inside the ice core, and it is therefore possible to restrict γ-spectroscopy analysis to particulate matter only. We show how the sensibility of the detection limit can be improved by almost one order of magnitude by using a well-type detector instead of a coaxial one. Hypothesis on the dating of some radioactive layers are also hereby presented.

Keywords: (137)Cs; Adamello glacier; Alpine ice cores; γ-spectroscopy.