114
contaminated sediments presently found in this area.
Seteatetate
:
One of the most dominant aspects of the distributions of the several radionuclides measured are the differences between them.
of high
239+240
Pu,
24)
An,
155
Eu and
137
The major distributions
Cs concentrations, which are located
in northwest quadrant surface sediments, differ greatly from the distributions
of 238 bu 2075; and 60%, whose highest concentrations were found in crater
sediments.
A great deal of the differences found can reasonably be attributed
to the difference in the source terms, each of which contributed varying
quantities of debris to the different locations in the lagoon.
In that one of
the most interesting aspects, relative to the marine chemistries and environmental fractionation of the different radionuclides, may be their different
spatial distributions, it is unfortunate that the complexity of the multisource term introduction of the radioactivity appears to prohibit comparisons
to be made of the distributions from individual source terms.
A great deal of
the ambiguity which prohibits comparisons to be made arises from the mixing of
debris produced by the Zuni and the Station B-18 area tests.
Within the
region of the lagoon encompassed by stations B-18, C-8, B-19, B-20, B-22 and
B-24, the distributions of
~°’Bi,
207 i; 6
©°co and
S5ey differ not only from each
other, but also from the fairly constant proportions in which they occur (compared to 23942405.) in the eastern, central and northeastern lagoon.
Except
for 13766 the fairly constant ratios of the radionuclides to 23942405, in the
central lagoon can be interpreted as evidence of a low degree of chemically
related fractionation between the several radionuclides in the debris depositied here.
It is clear that without the ability to demonstrate either the initial or
present radiochemical composition of the source terms to the various stations
sampled in the lagoon, investigations of the extent to which various