Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution

<p>The release of legacy contaminants such as fallout radionuclides (FRNs) in response to glacier retreat is a process that has received relatively little attention to date, yet may have consequences as a source of secondary contamination as glaciers melt and down-waste in response to a warmin...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	C. C. Clason, W. H. Blake, N. Selmes, A. Taylor, P. Boeckx, J. Kitch, S. C. Mills, G. Baccolo, G. E. Millward
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Copernicus Publications 2021
Materias:	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f26b59d29216439c89164388397d3934
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:f26b59d29216439c89164388397d3934
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f26b59d29216439c89164388397d39342021-11-19T13:31:56ZAccumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution10.5194/tc-15-5151-20211994-04161994-0424https://doaj.org/article/f26b59d29216439c89164388397d39342021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/5151/2021/tc-15-5151-2021.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424<p>The release of legacy contaminants such as fallout radionuclides (FRNs) in response to glacier retreat is a process that has received relatively little attention to date, yet may have consequences as a source of secondary contamination as glaciers melt and down-waste in response to a warming climate. The presence of FRNs in glacier-fed catchments is poorly understood in comparison to other contaminants, yet there is now emerging evidence from multiple regions of the global cryosphere for substantially augmented FRN activities in cryoconite. Here we report concentrated FRNs in both cryoconite and proglacial sediments from the Isfallsglaciären catchment in Arctic Sweden. Activities of some FRNs in cryoconite are 2 orders of magnitude above those found elsewhere in the catchment, and above the activities found in other environmental matrices outside of nuclear exclusion zones. We also describe the presence of the short-lived cosmogenic radionuclide <span class="inline-formula"><sup>7</sup>Be</span> in cryoconite samples, highlighting the importance of meltwater–sediment interactions in radionuclide accumulation in the ice surface environment. It is currently unknown whether high accumulations of fallout radionuclides in glaciers have the potential to impact local environmental quality through down-wasting and downstream transport of contaminants to the proglacial environment through interaction with sediments and meltwater. We thus recommend that future research in this field focusses on processes of accumulation of FRNs and other environmental contaminants in cryoconite and whether these contaminants are present in quantities harmful for downstream ecosystems.</p>C. C. ClasonW. H. BlakeN. SelmesA. TaylorP. BoeckxJ. KitchS. C. MillsG. BaccoloG. E. MillwardCopernicus PublicationsarticleEnvironmental sciencesGE1-350GeologyQE1-996.5ENThe Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 5151-5168 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5
spellingShingle	Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 C. C. Clason W. H. Blake N. Selmes A. Taylor P. Boeckx J. Kitch S. C. Mills G. Baccolo G. E. Millward Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
description	<p>The release of legacy contaminants such as fallout radionuclides (FRNs) in response to glacier retreat is a process that has received relatively little attention to date, yet may have consequences as a source of secondary contamination as glaciers melt and down-waste in response to a warming climate. The presence of FRNs in glacier-fed catchments is poorly understood in comparison to other contaminants, yet there is now emerging evidence from multiple regions of the global cryosphere for substantially augmented FRN activities in cryoconite. Here we report concentrated FRNs in both cryoconite and proglacial sediments from the Isfallsglaciären catchment in Arctic Sweden. Activities of some FRNs in cryoconite are 2 orders of magnitude above those found elsewhere in the catchment, and above the activities found in other environmental matrices outside of nuclear exclusion zones. We also describe the presence of the short-lived cosmogenic radionuclide <span class="inline-formula"><sup>7</sup>Be</span> in cryoconite samples, highlighting the importance of meltwater–sediment interactions in radionuclide accumulation in the ice surface environment. It is currently unknown whether high accumulations of fallout radionuclides in glaciers have the potential to impact local environmental quality through down-wasting and downstream transport of contaminants to the proglacial environment through interaction with sediments and meltwater. We thus recommend that future research in this field focusses on processes of accumulation of FRNs and other environmental contaminants in cryoconite and whether these contaminants are present in quantities harmful for downstream ecosystems.</p>
format	article
author	C. C. Clason W. H. Blake N. Selmes A. Taylor P. Boeckx J. Kitch S. C. Mills G. Baccolo G. E. Millward
author_facet	C. C. Clason W. H. Blake N. Selmes A. Taylor P. Boeckx J. Kitch S. C. Mills G. Baccolo G. E. Millward
author_sort	C. C. Clason
title	Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
title_short	Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
title_full	Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
title_fullStr	Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
title_full_unstemmed	Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
title_sort	accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on isfallsglaciären (arctic sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
publisher	Copernicus Publications
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f26b59d29216439c89164388397d3934
work_keys_str_mv	AT ccclason accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT whblake accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT nselmes accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT ataylor accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT pboeckx accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT jkitch accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT scmills accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT gbaccolo accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution AT gemillward accumulationoflegacyfalloutradionuclidesincryoconiteonisfallsglaciarenarcticswedenandtheirdownstreamspatialdistribution
_version_	1718420107286282240

Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution

Ejemplares similares