title: Time-resolved record of236U and239,240Pu isotopes from a coral growing during the nuclear testing program at Enewetak Atoll (Marshall Islands).
abstract: A comprehensive series of nuclear tests were carried out by the United States at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands, especially between 1952 and 1958. A Porites Lutea coral that was growing in the Enewetak lagoon within a few km of all of the high-yield tests contains a continuous record of isotopes, which are of interest (e.g.14C,236U,239,240Pu) through the testing period. Prior to the present work,14C measurements at ∼2-month resolution had shown pronounced peaks in the Δ14C data that coincided with the times at which tests were conducted. Here we report measurements of236U and239,240Pu on the same coral using accelerator mass spectrometry, and again find prominent peaks in the concentrations of these isotopes that closely follow those in14C. Consistent with the14C data, the magnitudes of these peaks do not, however, correlate well with the explosive yields of the corresponding tests, indicating that smaller tests probably contributed disproportionately to the debris that fell in the lagoon. Additional information about the different tests can also be obtained from the236U/239Pu and240Pu/239Pu ratios, which are found to vary dramatically over the testing period. In particular, the first thermonuclear test, Ivy-Mike, has characteristic236U/239Pu and240Pu/239Pu signatures which are diagnostic of the first arrival of nuclear test material in various archives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Electronic address: michaela.froehlich@anu.edu.au.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Froehlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia; Department of Genetics, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Tims
authors.affiliation: Radiocarbon Laboratory, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Physics, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Fifield
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D008849:Micronesia; D054043:Nuclear Weapons; D011005:Plutonium / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D011005:Plutonium
keywords: (236)U; Accelerator mass spectrometry; Coral; Enewetak Atoll; Marshall Islands; Pu isotopes