NUKLEONIKA 2006, 51(Suppl. 2):s39-s44

DETERMINATION OF THE SEDIMENT DEPOSITION RATES IN THE KUWAIT BAY USING 137Cs AND 210Pb

Abdallah Z. Al-Zamel1, Firyal Bou-Rabee1, Mohammad A. Al-Sarawi1, Marcin Olszewski2, Henryk Bem2

1 Faculty of Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kuwait, P. O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
2 Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Technical University of £ódŸ, 36 ¯wirki Str., 90-924 £ódŸ, Poland

Five bottom sediment cores from the Kuwait Bay were dated using 210Pb and 137Cs radionuclides. For evaluating the sedimentation rate two methods were applied: geochronology with the constant rate of supply unsupported 210Pb (CRS model) and the Weibull distribution of anthropogenic 137Cs. The sedimentation rates in this region, calculated by the first method ranged from 0.24 to 0.39 cm/year, while the same rates obtained from 137Cs distribution were slightly lower: from 0.1 to 0.25 cm/year. These relatively small differences can be explained by additional input of the Chernobyl accident to the 137Cs inventory in the bottoms sediments of the Northern Hemisphere.