Geochronology of lake sediments using 210Pb with double energetic window method by LSC: An application to Lake Van

• LSC method was used to construct the geochronlogy of Lake Van.
• Age and accumulation rates of the lake sediment were calculated by using the 210Pb concentrations.
• 210Pb activity was determined by LSC with double energetic window method.
• The sedimentation rate varies significantly from 0.4 to 0.7 mm yr−1.

In this study the age and sediment accumulation rates of the lake sediment were calculated by using the 210Pb concentrations through the sediment core. The specific activity of 210Pb for each sediment section was determined by LSC with double energetic window method which relies on the direct determination of 210Pb without waiting for the in growth of 210Po from 210Pb. For the successful determination of this radionuclide two counting windows were optimized to eliminate the overlapping of the beta spectra of 210Pb and 210Bi.