Use of natural and artificial radionuclides to determine the sedimentation rates in two North Caucasus lakes

Abstract The specific activities of natural (210Pb, 226Ra, and 232Th) and artificial (137Cs, 239,240Pu, and 241Am) radionuclides in the sediments of two North Caucasus lakes were determined. The two lakes, Lake Khuko and Lake Donguz-Orun, differ in their sedimentation conditions. Based on the use of unsupported 210Pbex and both Chernobyl-derived and bomb-derived 137Cs as chronological markers, it was established that the sedimentation rates in Lake Khuko over the past 55–60 y did not exceed 0.017 cm y−1. Sedimentation rates in Lake Donguz-Orun were found to be more than an order of magnitude higher. In the latter case, the sedimentation rates for the period from 1986 to the present were over 1.5 times higher than they were for the period 1963–1986. The differences in sedimentation rates were due to differences in the rates of denudation of their respective catchment areas. The specific activities of artificial radionuclides (137Cs, 2600 Bq kg−1; 239,240Pu, 162 Bq kg−1; and 241Am, 36 Bq kg−1) and their ratios in the sediments of Lake Khuko show that their deposition was mainly due to global stratospheric fallout of technogenic radionuclides associated with nuclear bomb testing during 1954–1963—rather than fallout from the Chernobyl accident. Several factors, including the mode of precipitation, features of the surface runoff, and location of Lake Khuko, were responsible for the accumulation of artificial radionuclides.