10Be concentration and residence time in the ocean surface layer

doi:10.1016/0012-821X(79)90207-3

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Volume 43, Issue 2, May 1979, Pages 237-240

https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(79)90207-3 Get rights and content

Abstract

The concentration of¹⁰Be in Pacific Ocean surface water has been measured by nuclear accelerator spectrometry to be ∼740 atoms/cm³. This value, which is much less than the¹⁰Be concentration in precipitation, suggests that particle scavenging of Be in the surface layer is important. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of making detailed horizontal and vertical distribution measurements of¹⁰Be in the oceans, using the accelerator technique.

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The ratio of 10Be to 9Be is determined by accelerator mass spectrometry. To determine the concentration of 10Be, accurate quantification of 9Be in seawater is crucial [8–10]. Hence, there is a great demand for the accurate determination of natural background levels of beryllium for its periodic monitoring in environmental samples in and around the anthropogenic sources.
A rapid and highly sensitive vesicle mediated dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction procedure is developed for the determination of parts per quadrillion level of beryllium in seawater and air filter samples for providing its natural background and contamination levels. In this procedure, dioctylsulfosuccinate, an anionic vesicular surfactant and acetylacetone are used as dispersing and chelating agents, respectively. At pH > 9.5, beryllium forms hydrophobic beryllium-acetylacetonate complex spontaneously at room temperature. This complex is selectively filled into the vesicular cavities of dioctylsulfosuccinate and is extracted into small chloroform phase from bulk aqueous phase. The beryllium present in the chloroform phase is back extracted with dilute nitric acid and is analyzed by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. This method is applied to groundwater, seawater, coal fly ash, air filter and sea sludge samples. Under the optimized conditions, the limit of detection, limit of quantification and linear dynamic range are 10 fg mL⁻¹, 33 fg mL⁻¹ and 40–500 fg mL⁻¹ for seawater; 0.15 ng g⁻¹, 0.5 ng g⁻¹ and 0.4–4 ng g⁻¹ for air filter and 1.5 ng g⁻¹, 0.39 ng g⁻¹ and 0.4–4 ng g⁻¹ for coal fly ash, respectively. For 1 L seawater sample an enrichment factor of 954 is achieved. Coefficient of determination (R²) is found to be 0.997. The recoveries are in the range of 94–105% at 200–500 fg mL⁻¹. The relative standard deviations are 20%, 11%, 8% for ppq, ppt and ppb levels of Be, respectively. The accuracy of the procedure is verified by analyzing NIST SRMs 1640 and 1640a trace elements in natural water.
Determination of picomolar beryllium levels in seawater with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry following silica-gel preconcentration
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The stable isotope 9Be exists in ppq levels (5–30 pmol kg−1 [1,2]) in seawater and is derived from the earth's crust (i.e., of lithogenic origin) via river transport to the ocean [3]. The cosmogenic Be isotope 10Be in seawater has been investigated by using accelerator mass spectrometry (e.g., Raisbeck et al.) [4]. The ratio of cosmogenic 10Be to lithogenic stable Be is expected to be a new chemical tracer for the contribution of terrigenous matter to the sea [5,6] and water masses in the ocean [7].
A robust and rapid method for the determination of natural levels of beryllium (Be) in seawater was developed to facilitate mapping Be concentrations in the ocean. A solid-phase extraction method using a silica gel column was applied for preconcentration and purification of Be in seawater prior to determination of Be concentrations with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Be was quantitatively adsorbed onto silica gel from solutions with pH values ranging from 6.3 to 9, including natural seawater. The chelating agent ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid was used to remove other ions in the seawater matrix (Na, Mg, and Ca) that interfere with the ICP-MS analysis. The reproducibility of the method was 3% based on triplicate analyses of natural seawater samples, and the detection limit was 0.4 pmol kg⁻¹ for 250 mL of seawater, which is sufficient for the analysis of seawater in the open ocean. The method was then used to determine the vertical profile of Be in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, which was found to be a recycled-type profile in which the Be concentration increased with depth from the surface (7.2 pmol kg⁻¹ at <200 m) to deep water (29.2 pmol kg⁻¹ from 3500 m to the bottom).
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The chronometry of marine deposits ultimately depends on accurate calibration by radioactive methods. All absolute dating methods that have proven dependable are based on radioactive decay. Virtually all of the methods depend on the methodical decrease the amount of the radioactive nuclide and the growth of the corresponding daughter product. These nuclides include ¹⁴C, the ²³⁸U, and ²³⁵U decay series and cosmogenic nuclides such as ¹⁰Be and ³²Si which add to the list of usable cosmogenic nuclides. Corals, deep-sea sediments and ferromanganese crusts have all been dated using these nuclides. Volcanic deposits are datable using the K–Ar method.
A new 3D numerical model of cosmogenic nuclide <sup>10</sup>Be production in the atmosphere
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They are collectively called the cosmogenic isotopes. Cosmogenic isotopes, produced mainly by cosmic rays, provide a useful tool to be applicable in different studies, just to be mentioned a few, reconstructions of solar variability and terrestrial climate in the past (e.g., Raisbeck et al., 1979; Bard et al., 1997; Beer, 2000), paleomagnetic studies (Raisbeck et al., 2006), dating (Siame et al., 2004), tracing the atmospheric air dynamics (Raisbeck et al., 1981; Lal, 2007; Usoskin et al., 2009b), etc. One of the most important cosmogenic isotopes is 10Be, which is useful for long-term studies of solar activity because of its long half-life of about 1.5 millions of years.
A new quantitative model of production of the cosmogenic isotope ¹⁰Be by cosmic rays in the Earth's atmosphere is presented. The CRAC:10Be (Cosmic Ray induced Atmospheric Cascade for ¹⁰Be) model is based on a full numerical Monte-Carlo simulation of the nucleonic–electromagnetic–muon cascade induced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere and is able to compute the isotope's production rate at any given 3D location (geographical and altitude) and time, for all possible parameters including solar energetic particle events. The model was tested against the results of direct measurements of the ¹⁰Be production in a number of dedicated experiments to confirm its quantitative correctness. A set of tabulated values for the yield function is provided along with a detailed numerical recipe forming a “do-it-yourself” kit, which allows anyone interested to apply the model for any given conditions. This provides a useful tool for applying the cosmogenic isotope method in direct integration with other models, e.g., dynamical atmospheric transport.
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Recent developments in sampling, sample preparation and measuring techniques using radiometrics and mass spectrometry methods for analysis of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment are presented and discussed. As the levels of anthropogenic radionuclides observed at present in the marine environment are very low, high sensitive analytical systems are required for carrying out oceanographic investigations. The developments in sampling and measuring techniques are illustrated by several examples of marine radioactivity studies, which include both contaminated sites (e.g. the Pacific weapons testing sites and Arctic dumping sites), open ocean sites and also the analysis of IAEA marine reference materials. As the topic is very wide, it has not been possible to cover all aspects of sampling and radionuclide analyses in detail; the emphasis has been on recent developments in the field.
Geochronometry of Marine Deposits
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10Be concentration and residence time in the ocean surface layer

Abstract

Deep-Sea Res.

Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta

Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

Beryllium-10 produced by cosmic rays

Science

Half life of10Be

Phys. Rev. Lett.

Beryllium-10 mass spectrometry with a cyclotron

Science

¹⁰Be concentration and residence time in the ocean surface layer

Half life of¹⁰Be