Tanveer Ahmed, State University of New York, Albany, NY, Abdul Bari, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, and Liaquat Husain, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, SUNY, Albany and Wadsworth Center, NYSDOH, Albany, NY.
Radionuclide Pb210 is widely used to date environmental records contained in the lake sediments. A decay product in the U238 decay series with a half-live of 22.26 years, it provides a chronology of many environmental and anthropogenic changes recorded in the sediments in the time scale of 100-150 years. Concentrations of Pb210-derived Elemental Carbon (EC) are deduced in sediment cores from West Pine (WP) Pond (44º20¢N, 74º25¢W), Bear (BP) Pond (44º24¢N, 74º17¢W), Clear (CP) Pond (43º59¢N, 73º49¢W) and Deer (DP) Pond (44º21¢N, 74º38¢W) situated in the Adirondacks region of upstate New York (NY). All the four ponds are situated remotely far away from any human or industrial activity. Pb210 dates were calculated using constant initial concentration (CIC) model and are validated using fallout radionuclide Cs137. The EC concentration in sediments from WP, CP and DP ranged from 0.15 to 3.03 mg/gdw, 0.58 to 2.64 mg/gdw and 0.4 to 3.1 mg/gdw, respectively. Sedimentation rates in WP, CP and DP are found to be 2.03 mm/y, 1.47 mm/y and 1.22 mm/y, respectively. The results will be used to study the role of EC in the geochemical cycle of this element and an attempt will be made to build the historical record of EC in the atmosphere of Northeastern NY.
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