Natural and artificial radioactivity in the Svalbard glaciers

• Published in: Journal of environmental radioactivity 1994, Vol.25 (1-2), p.161-176
• Main Authors: Pinglot, J.F., Pourchet, M., Lefauconnier, B., Hagen, J.O., Vaikmäe, R., Punning, J.M., Watanabe, O., Takahashi, S., Kameda, T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Exact sciences and technology; Isotope geochemistry; Isotope geochemistry. Geochronology; Pollution, environment geology
• ISSN: 0265-931X; 1879-1700
• DOI: 10.1016/0265-931X(94)90013-2

Natural and artificial radioactivity in the snow of 10 Svalbard glaciers has been measured from 31 ice core samples, drilled between 1981 and 1993. Of these ice cores, seven exhibit the well-known level arising from the fallout of the 1961–1962 atmospheric thermonuclear tests. The second level, due to the Chernobyl accident (26 April 1986), has been detected in all the studied glaciers; the maximum 137Cs fallout reaches 22 Bq kg−1 and shows a high variability. The natural radioactivity, mostly due to 210Pb, shows an in-depth variation which is not governed by its half-life (22.2 years). These measurements serve many glaciological purposes: absolute dating of the snow layers; air-snow transger and fallout studies; the determination of mean annual mass balances in the accumulation area of glaciers and their associated spatio-temporal variations.