Dating of mine waste in lacustrine sediments using cesium-137 |
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| Authors: | W C Rember T W Erdman M L Hoffmann V E Chamberlain K F Sprenke |
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| Institution: | (1) Hazardous Waste Center, University of Idaho, 83843 Moscow, Idaho, USA |
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| Abstract: | For over a century Medicine Lake in northern Idaho has received heavy-metal-laden tailings from the Coeur d'Alene mining district. Establishing the depositional chronology of the lake bottom sediments provides information on the source and rate of deposition of the tailings. Cesium-137, an isotope produced in the atmosphere by nuclear bomb tests, was virtually absent in the environment prior to 1951, but reached its apex in 1964. Our analysis of cesium-137 in the sediments of Medicine Lake revealed that 14 cm of fine-grained tailings were deposited in the lake from 1951 to 1964 and tailing deposition downstream was greatly reduced by the installation of tailings dams in the district in 1968. Cesium-137 analysis is accomplished by a fairly simple gamma-ray counting technique and should be a valuable tool for analyzing sedimentation in any lacustrine environment that was active during the 1950s and 1960s. |
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| Keywords: | Cesium Mine waste Mine tailings |
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