Plutonium as a chronomarker in Australian and New Zealand sediments: a comparison with 137Cs

The construction of high resolution chronologies of sediment profiles corresponding to the last 50–100 years usually entails the measurement of fallout radionuclides 210Pb and 137Cs. The anthropogenic radionuclide, 137Cs, originating from atmospheric nuclear weapons testing can provide an important “first appearance” horizon of known age (1954–1955), providing much-needed validation for the sometimes uncertain interpretations associated with 210Pb geochronology. However, while 137Cs usually provides a strong signal in sediment in the northern hemisphere, total fallout of 137Cs in the southern hemisphere was only 25% that of the north and the low activities of 137Cs seen in Australian and New Zealand sediments can make its horizon of first appearance somewhat arguable. Low 137Cs fallout also limited the size of the 1963–1964 fallout peak, a peak that is usually seen in northern hemisphere sediment profiles but is often difficult to discern south of the equator.This paper shows examples of the use of nuclear weapons fallout Pu as a chronomarker in sediment cores from Australia (3 sites) and New Zealand (1 site). The Pu profiles of five cores are examined and compared with the corresponding 137Cs profiles and 210Pb geochronologies. We find that Pu has significant advantages over 137Cs, including greater measurement sensitivity using alpha spectrometry and mass spectrometric techniques compared to 137Cs measurements by gamma spectrometry. Moreover, Pu provides additional chronomarkers associated with changes in the Pu isotopic composition of fallout during the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, the 238Pu/239+240Pu activity ratio shows distinct shifts in the early 1950s and the mid to late 1960s, providing important known-age horizons in southern hemisphere sediments. For estuarine and near-shore sediments Pu sometimes has another significant advantage over 137Cs due to its enrichment in bottom sediment relative to 137Cs resulting from the more efficient scavenging of dissolved Pu in seawater by sediment particles.