Testing a new small-volume technique for determining 234Th in seawater

C. R. Benitez-Nelson, K. O. Buesseler, M. Rutgers Van Der Loeff, J. Andrews, L. Ball, G. Crossin, M. A. Charette

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

101 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Thorium-234 is a naturally occurring radionuclide that has been widely studied in ocean sciences. These studies use the disequilibrium between the soluble parent uranium-238 (T1/2 = 4.5·109 y), and its particle reactive daughter, 234Th (T1/2 = 24.1 d), to quantify the in-situ removal rates of 234Th on sinking particles. Here, we present additional experiments that test a new 2-1 procedure in which 234Th is co-scavenged with a MnO2 precipitate. Unlike other techniques, this method can be easily applied at-sea with an overall precision and accuracy of ≤5%. Our experiments have sought to elucidate the effects of delaying reagent addition and precipitate filtration, differences in sample bottle types, and issues related to sample backgrounds and 234Th particulate sampling. Most of these experiments were conducted using water collected on repeated occupations of station ALOHA (22°45.0'N, 158°00.0'W), 100 km North of Oahu, Hawaii.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)795-799
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
Volume248
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2001
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Dr. DANIELS at NELHA and Dr. KARL at the University of Hawaii for allowing us to participate in the HOT program. Support for this research was from the National Science Foundation Division of Ocean Sciences and Office of Polar Programs. Additional funds were provided to MAC as part of the WHOI Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and to CRB-N, as part of the University of Hawaii SOEST Young Investigator Program and NOAA/UCAR Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Change. This is SOEST Contribution Number 5277 and WHOI Contribution Number 10333.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Pollution
  • Spectroscopy
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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