The self-cleaning capacity of surface waters after radioactive fallout. Evidence from European waters after Chernobyl, 1986-1988

作者：Peter H. Santschi, Silvia Bollhalder, Stefan. Zingg, A. Lueck, Klaus. Farrenkothen · 发表于：Environmental Science & Technology · 年份：1990 · DOI：10.1021/es00074a009 · 被引用次数：120 · 研究领域：Radioactive contamination and transfer、Water Quality and Pollution Assessment、Heavy metals in environment

Radionuclide fallout from the burning Chernobyl reactor provided a pulsed input of 137 Cs to surface waters and watersheds of Europe. Radionuclide analyses of surface waters indicated that initial rates of decrease of 137 Cs concentrations in contaminated rivers were on the order of 0.125 day -1 , which was found to be consistent with the size of the mobile inventory in the watersheds (i.e., ~1% of total) and with the initial dilution rate (i.e., ~0.5 m -1 ) in river water. Analysis of 134 Cs and 137 Cs in waters from five different lakes in Switzerland and of settling particles collected in sediment traps from one of the lakes, Lake Zurich, revealed relatively fast whole-lake removal rates. Residence times of 137 Cs in the five study lakes ranged from 5 to 21 months. Horizontal boundaries in this lake appeared to have acted first as sinks of Chernobyl 137 Cs from the upper water column and later as sources of 137 Cs to deeper parts of Lake Zurich. Rates of adsorption/de-compared in subsurface waters to those of uptake/release by other processes occurring in the lake, were found to be small.