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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Geochemistry

Dartmouth College

Atmosphere

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Terrestrial Exchange Of Atmospheric Metals: Insights From Fallout Radionuclides, Joshua D. Landis Apr 2024

Terrestrial Exchange Of Atmospheric Metals: Insights From Fallout Radionuclides, Joshua D. Landis

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

Forests mediate the exchange of gases and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere over 30% of global land area. Because forest foliage efficiently absorbs PM with persistent pollutants including metals Pb and Hg, as well as CO2 and gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), this exchange profoundly influences the composition of the atmosphere as well as terrestrial biogeochemical cycles. The processes by which PM is absorbed remain enigmatic, however, due to the complexity of micrometeorological physics and submicron physical scale of the interaction. Here, measurements of fallout radionuclides (FRNs) beryllium-7 and lead-210, which are quintessential tracers …


Surficial Redistribution Of Fallout 131iodine In A Small Temperate Catchment, Joshua D. Landis, Nathan T. Hamm, Carl E. Renshaw, W. Brian Dade, Francis J. Magilligan, John D. Gartner Mar 2012

Surficial Redistribution Of Fallout 131iodine In A Small Temperate Catchment, Joshua D. Landis, Nathan T. Hamm, Carl E. Renshaw, W. Brian Dade, Francis J. Magilligan, John D. Gartner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Isotopes of iodine play significant environmental roles, including a limiting micronutrient (127I), an acute radiotoxin (131I), and a geochemical tracer (129I). But the cycling of iodine through terrestrial ecosystems is poorly understood, due to its complex environmental chemistry and low natural abundance. To better understand iodine transport and fate in a terrestrial ecosystem, we traced fallout 131iodine throughout a small temperate catchment following contamination by the 11 March 2011 failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility. We find that radioiodine fallout is actively and efficiently scavenged by the soil system, where it …