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Identifying resuspended particles using isotope ratios

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Abstract

Three simple methods were developed to estimate the proportion of particles in lake water derived from resuspended material. These techniques use the different distributions of long and short-lived radioisotopes sorbed onto particles and were tested in the three basins of Lake Erie using 7Be, 137Cs and 210Po/210Pb.

While the concentration of 210Po on particles did not vary significantly in the lake, resuspended particles were characterized by high concentrations of 137Cs and low concentrations of 7Be. The distribution of these radioisotopes is consistent with a simple mixing model in which the fraction of particles in the lake water derived from resuspension ranged from ≤8% to about 100%. Higher concentrations of resuspended particles were found in deeper samples from the nepheloid layer and in the shallow western basin where thermal stratification was very weak.

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Cornett, R.J., Chant, L.A., Risto, B.A. et al. Identifying resuspended particles using isotope ratios. Hydrobiologia 284, 69–77 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005732

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