Use of Trace Radioactivity to Identify Recent Sedimentation Rate in Persian Gulf

Masoud Beitollahi
Idaho State University
Department of Physics

A total of eight frozen sediment core samples from north part of the Persian Gulf were analyzed for Lead-210 (²¹⁰Pb), Radium-226 (²²⁶Ra) and Caesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs) using Alpha and Gamma spectrometry techniques. The depth where the ¹³⁷Cs concentration was at detectable levels by Gamma spectrometry were marked as 1954 (¹³⁷Cs horizon). Due to the generally low concentration of the anthropogenic fallout in this region, there was not any clear or sharp evidence for increased ¹³⁷Cs in1986 (Chernobyl accident) or 1963 (increase in nuclear testing). Therefore ¹³⁷Cs profiles were used as a qualitative procedure of dating in this study.
The results showed sedimentation rates in this region varied from a minimum of 0.20 cm y^-1 to a maximum of 1.01 cm y^-1 corresponding to the 0.29 g cm^-2 y^-1 and 1.62 g cm^-2 y^-1 dry mass of sediments accumulated per year respectively.