Institution: | aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208,USA |
Abstract: | Water column distributions of226Ra were determined at stations in the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea as part of the 1988 Joint U.S.—Turkish Black Sea Expedition. Black Sea surface water226Ra concentrations were a factor of three to four lower than measurements made 20 years earlier. The most likely cause is increased removal of226Ra and Ba 35] due to increased surface biological activity; a secondary effect is decreased fluvial discharge and related dimunition of inputs by desorption from fluvial suspended sediments. The amount of226Ra missing from the surface waters of the Black Sea over this period is accounted for in the high-porosity surficial “fluff” sediment layer. Throughout the Black Sea, depth profiles of226Ra exhibited pronounced maxima of approximately 25 dpm/100 L at aboutσθ = 16.2–16.3, in the vicinity of a bacterial maximum, but slightly shallower than the total dissolved Mn and Fe maxima (σθ = 16.4–16.5) reported by Lewis and Landing 38]. While the226Ra maximum may, in part, be linked to the cycling of Mn and Fe oxyhydroxides near theO2H2S interface, its distribution appears to be more plausibly explained as a result of the microbial breakdown of particulate organic matter and the subsequent release and partial dissolution of associated barite in this region. A simple steady-state two-☐ model has been used to obtain a semiquantitative understanding of the behavior of226Ra in the Black Sea. By incorporating reasonable estimates for the input and removal of226Ra in the Black Sea, an excellent agreement between predicted and observed (1988)226Ra concentrations was achieved. The model suggests that the dominant variables controlling the distribution of226Ra in the Black Sea are riverine input and cycling with Ba. |