DEVELOP RADIONUCLIDE GEOCHRONOLOGIES
The State seeks professional services to assist the Department with development of radionuclide (Pb-210 and Cs-137) geochronologies for cores collected from impounded wetlands to determine sediment accretion and mass accumulation rates.
To meet this objective, the following activities will be undertaken:
1. Aid in the location determination and collection of 30 sediment cores (1.5 meters long) from the areas of interest.
2. Provide support in the pre-processing of the collected cores to obtain 20 to 60 grams of dry sediment from 2 cm depth intervals.
3. Determine organic content of dry samples through loss-on-ignition.
4. Measure radionuclide profiles in the 30 cores, using gamma counters, to determine sediment accumulation rates. The method of determining radionuclide activity and sediment accumulation must follow published methods outlined by Cutshall et al., 1983 and Olsen et al., 1981.
5. Prepare a technical report that documents the field and laboratory methods and provides an assessment and interpretation of the data.
