7 research outputs found
Thorium speciation in seawater
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Marine Chemistry 100 (2006): 250-268, doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2005.10.024.Since the 1960’s, thorium isotopes occupy a special place in the oceanographer’s toolbox as
tracers for determining rates and mechanisms of oceanic scavenging, particle dynamics, and
carbon fluxes. Due to their unique and constant production rates from soluble parent nuclides of
uranium and radium, their disequilibrium can be used to calculate rates and time scales of
sinking particles. In addition, by ratio-ing particulate 234Th (as well, in principle, other Thnuclides)
to carbon (and other elements), and linking this ratio to the parent-daughter
disequilibrium in the water column, it is possible to calculate fluxes of carbon and other
elements. Most of these applications are possible with little knowledge of the dissolved chemical
properties of thorium, other than its oxidation state (IV) and tendency to strongly sorb to
surfaces, i.e., its “particle- or surface-activity”. However, the use of any tracer is hindered by a
lack of knowledge of its chemical properties. Recent observations in the variability of carbon to
234Th ratios in different particle types, as well as of associations of Th(IV) with various marine
organic biomolecules has led to the need for a review of current knowledge and what future
endeavors should be taken to understand the marine chemistry of thorium.The writing of this paper was supported, in parts by NSF (OCE-0351559; OCE-0350758, and
OCE 0354757)
An Introduction to the Application and Future Use of 234Th in Aquatic Systems
234Th is an extremely useful radiotracer of particle dynamics in aquatic systems.Its use, however, is still limited to a relatively small number of investigators. The reasons for this may in part be due to a lack of knowledge of how this nuclide has been used in the past as well as how and where 234Th might be profitably applied in future research. The purpose of this paper, then, is to examine the variety of 234Th applications that have been used to understand natural aquatic processes in four major areas: vertical transport,particle cycling, horizontal transport, and sediment dynamics. We provide a general overview of the possible applications of 234Th in the hopes of provoking an increased interest in the inherent potential and future application of 234Th in these systems. We end this paper with a discussion of future research avenues in the context of three specific regimes: i) the upper 1000 m of the open ocean, ii) coastal sediment/water processes and iii) large freshwater lakes