Presence of ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{237}$Np in a marine ecosystem: the northern Benguela Upwelling System, a case study

Abstract

The Benguela Upwelling System (BUS), off the south-western African coast, is one of the four major eastern boundary upwelling ecosystems in the oceans. However, despite its very interesting characteristics, this area has been almost overlooked in the field of environmental radioactivity. In this work, it has been carried out for the first time the combined study of ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{237}$Np in the coast of Namibia within the northern BUS. Surface seawater exhibited similar ${}^{236}$U and ${}^{237}$Np concentrations, ranging from $3.9\times 10^6$ to $5.6\times 10^6$ atoms/kg and from $4.6\times 10^6$ to $8.5\times 10^6$ atoms/kg, respectively. The observed inventories in a water column from the continental margin, of $(2.10\pm 0.11)\times 10^{1}2$ atoms m${}^{-2}$ for ${}^{236}$U and $(3.48\pm 0.13)\times 10^{12}$ atoms/m${}^{-2}$ for ${}^{237}$Np, were in agreement with the global fallout (GF) source term in the Southern Hemisphere, which was recognized as the main source of actinides to the region. A pattern was observed in the surface samples, with ${}^{237}$Np concentrations that decreased by 25-30% when moving from inshore to offshore stations, but such an effect could not be clearly discerned in the case of ${}^{236}$U within the data uncertainties. An explanation based on the larger particle reactivity of GF ${}^{237}$Np compared to GF ${}^{236}$U was proposed. Such an effect would have been important at the studied site due to the enhance presence of particles in the continental shelf triggered by the upwelling phenomenon. A value of $1.77\pm 0.20$ was obtained for the ${}^{237}$Np/${}^{236}$U atom ratio for the GF source term in the marine environment.

References in corpus (2)

• Simple and fast method for the analysis of ${}^{236}$U, ${}^{237}$Np, ${}^{239}$Pu and ${}^{240}$Pu from seawater samples by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
• Excess of ${}^{236}$U in the northwest Mediterranean Sea

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Anthropogenic actinides in seawater and biota from the west coast of Sweden