Spatial and vertical distribution of radiocesium in seawater of the East China Sea

Zhao, Lian; Liu, Dantong; Wang, Jinlong; Du, Jinzhou; Hou, Xiaolin; Jiang, Yifei

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.01.047

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Horizontal distribution of 137 Cs. Over 200 datasets containing information on surface seawater 137 Cs in the China Seas were combined 12,13,[25][26][27][28]31 . The 137 Cs activity in surface seawater of the China Seas varied from 0.03 to 1.80 Bq m −3 , averaging 0.74 ± 0.34 Bq m −3 (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figure 3. The relationships between 137 Cs activity and the salinity (a) and temperature (b) of surface seawater in the China Seas (data soured from previous studies 12,13,[25][26][27][28]31 ). This figure was prepared with Sigma-Plot professional 10.0 software.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vertical distribution of 137 Cs. The 137 Cs activities in 33 water column locations of the China Seas were collected in previous studies [24][25][26]28,31,39 , and their vertical distributions are plotted in Fig. 4.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The red circles and blue squares represent surface seawater and surface sediment sample collection sites, respectively. The sampling locations of surface seawater and surface sediment are cited from previous studies (East China Sea 5,13,[24][25][26]31,44,45,49 ; South China Sea 6,12,13,28,30,39,76 ; Yellow Sea 26,27,29 ). (b) a schematic chart of the China Seas surface current: the Kuroshio, and the North Equatorial Current (NEC), represented by the blue dotted lines.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To our knowledge, reports on the spatiotemporal distribution of 137 Cs and its influencing factors in the China Seas as a whole are scarce, with most publications focusing on localized areas. For instance, the activity level and distribution of 137 Cs in ECS seawater were investigated after the FDNPP accident 24,25 . Zhang et al 26 discussed the source and budget of 137 Cs in the ECS covering a small area based on a limited 137 Cs dataset.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Distribution and budget of 137Cs in the China Seas

Wang

Xiao

Sun

2020

Sci Rep

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Cesium-137 is one of the most abundant anthropogenic radionuclides released by atmospheric nuclear testing and nuclear accidents, and accordingly it may significantly impact the health of humans and marine environmental ecosystems. Documenting the distribution and inventory of 137 cs is thus a crucial task. In this study, we collected a large number of datasets with field observations of 137 cs in the China Seas, in order to provide an in-depth understanding of 137 Cs budgets and distributions. The activity and inventory of 137 Cs in China Seas' sediments showed large spatial variations, related to the 137 Cs source, sedimentation rates and the mineral composition of sediments. The 137 Cs concentration in sediments decreased with distance from the shore, generally tracing the distribution of sedimentation rates. High 137 Cs inventories in the water column indicated a high solubility and long mean residence times. The mean residence times of 137 Cs in the China Seas were determined to be 45.6 ± 3.8 years for the South China Sea (SCS), 36.8 ± 3.1 years for the East China Sea (ECS), and 12.0 ± 1.0 years for the Yellow Sea (YS). A 137 Cs mass balance suggests that oceanic input from the north Pacific is the dominant 137 Cs source to the China Seas, contributing about 96.9% of this substance. Furthermore, the bulk of 137 Cs remains dissolved in the SCS water column, while 137 Cs is mostly deposited to the sediments of the ECS and the YS. This new compilation of the activity level and inventory of 137 Cs help to establish background levels for future 137 Cs studies in the China Seas. The fission product 137 Cs (t 1/2 = 30.17 years) has been introduced into the marine environment by nuclear bombs, nuclear accidents, and nuclear power plants since the 1940s. The estimated 137 Cs inventory of the global ocean is ~603 PBq (1 PBq=10 15 Bq), accounting for over 60% of the total global fallout 1. Additionally, 137 Cs has high radiotoxicity and is easily absorbed by muscular tissues. Therefore, the environmental impact of 137 Cs has become of great concern to the society since the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, which occurred in 2011 2 .

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