Uptake of radioactivity by marine sediments and implications for monitoring metal pollutants

The value of studying artificially-produced radionuclides in the marine environment is discussed in the wider context of monitoring sediments for other metal pollutants. Differences in the dispersion of selected radionuclides discharged from the same known source are used to illustrate the sort of changes in phase or speciation which must occur with other metal pollutants, but which cannot be demonstrated directly because of the multiplicity of sources. Various chemical and physical procedures are discussed which can be applied to a study of heavy metal associations with marine sediments, as are questions such as the existence, or otherwise, of mechanisms for the slow release of adsorbed material from the buried sediment back into the water column. Suggestions are made as to how radionuclide studies may be helpful in answering questions such as these, which are considered to be vital for the meaningful interpretation of sediment analyses.