Vertical distributions of radionuclides ((239+240)Pu, (240)Pu/(239)Pu, and (137)Cs) in sediment cores of Lake Bosten in Northwestern China.

Artificial radionuclides ((137)Cs, (239+240)Pu, (241)Pu, (241)Am) deposited in lacustrine sediments have been used for dating as well as radionuclide source identification. In the present work, we investigated the vertical distributions of (239+240)Pu and (137)Cs activities, (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratios, and (239+240)Pu/(137)Cs activity ratios in sediment cores collected from Lake Bosten, which is the lake closest to the Lop Nor Chinese Nuclear Weapon Test site in northwestern China. Uniformly high concentrations of (239+240)Pu and (137)Cs were found in the upper layers deposited since 1964 in the sediment cores, and these were controlled by the resuspension of soil containing radionuclides from the nearby land surface. As the Chinese nuclear tests varied remarkably in yield, the mixing of the tropospheric deposition from these tests and the stratospheric deposition of global fallout has led to a (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratio that is similar to that of global fallout and to a (239+240)Pu/(137)Cs activity ratio that is slightly higher than that of global fallout. However, a low (240)Pu/(239)Pu atom ratio of 0.080 and high (239+240)Pu/(137)Cs activity ratio of 0.087, significantly different from the global fallout values, were observed in one sediment core (07BS10-2), indicating the inhomogenous tropospheric deposition from the Chinese nuclear tests in Lake Bosten during 1967-1973. These results are important to understand the influence of the CNTs on the radionuclide contamination in Lake Bosten.