Table 2.
STRONTIUM-90 IN SURFACE SEA-WATER (VALUES IN pe./l)
Location
and
dates
Ref,
Artes
“thal
—
1
10
No. of
samples
analysed
250 miles off Oregon
coast, January 1962
Christmas Island,
January 1962
Atlantic Ocean and Carribbean
Sea, 1956-60
Chukchi Sea, 1959-62
12
9
Range
of
values
1
0-04
6
0-03-0-2
60
0-031-0:30
7
0-095-0:27
Pacific and Indian Oceans,
1960-61
6°-40° N
25
0-1-0-9
0°-40° S
6
0-06-0-1
60° 5 (Antarctic)
Western North Pacific
Ocean, 1958-60
a
0-01--0-02
15
0-6-3-]
samples collected at various times durimg the period
indicated. The appearance of mixed fission products
after September 1961 in the samples from the mouth of
the Columbia River is the result of fall-out, presumably
from the nuclear tests by the U.S.8.R. in October 1961.
Chromium-51. produced in the Hanford reactors. was
the most abundant radionuclide in the coastal waters near
the mouth of the Columbia River, where it is of interest
to the oceanographer as a tag of Columbia River water
and sediments. Chromium-51 was neither expected nor
detected by visual inspection of the y-spectra of the
Christmas Island watcr samples.
‘The two values for strontium-90 from the single sample
of sea-water from off the Oregon coast analysed by both
the method of Miyako, Saruhashi and Katsuragi® and the
modified Kawabata—-Held methed* deseribed here were
0-037 + 0-003 (95 per cent counting error) and 0-041 +
0-009 pe./l., respectively. The latter was the faster of
the two methods and produced a sample of lesser mass.
The reduction of mass was from several grams to a few
milligrams. The values for strontium-90 in surface seawater from off the Oregon coast and from other areas
round the world ranged from 0-01 to 3-1 pe./L and are
presented m Table 2. This radionuclide seems to be
ubiquitous in surface waters since no zcro values are given
in these reports.
Table 3.
PHosyHorus-32 IX FILTERED SURFACE ShA-WATER FROM NEAR
THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER, JULY 1963 (VALUES IN pe./l. + S.D.)
Salinity
(parts per
thousand}
Stalion
Miles
fro ni mouth
63
3g
31-76
a9
2g
31-63
1
5-15
74
18
27-80
3
8-03 + 0-58
TD
a
27-74
a
4-68 41-65
6
No. of,
determinations
3
2p
3:57 + 0-60