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Reconstruction of Recent Sedimentary Processes in a Carbonate Platform (Gulf of Batabano, Cuba) Using Environmental Radiotracers

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Abstract

Recent (past 100 years) sedimentary processes in the highly dynamic Gulf of Batabano (Cuba, Caribbean Sea) were investigated through the analyses of environmental radionuclides (e.g., 210Pb, 226Ra, 137Cs, 239,240Pu, and 14C) in nine sediment cores. We evaluated the mean mass accumulation rates (MARs) and the surface mixed layers (SMLs) in each sediment core. Based on these results, three sedimentary environments were identified in the study region. In the central zone, the sediments were mainly composed of carbonate transported from the southern area and showed elevated mass accumulation rates (MAR, 0.11–0.23 g cm−2 year−1) and relatively deep surface mixed layers (SML, 14–16 cm). The southwestern zone was characterized by lower MAR (0.05–0.08 g cm−2 year−1) and thinner SML (7–8 cm). In both areas, the long sediment mixing times in the SMLs (of 45–61 years) smoothed out the sedimentary records. The coastline sedimentary environments were characterized by higher MAR (0.30–0.57 g cm−2 year−1) and the sedimentary records displayed clear signatures of extreme climatic events such as the intensive rains in 1999 reported for La Coloma and the hurricanes Lili and Isodore in 2002. Our study shows that the application of the 210Pb sediment dating method in dynamic costal zones is a challenging task but still may provide important information regarding sedimentation and mixing processes in the ecosystem.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the IAEA Technical Cooperation Project CUB7/006. We also acknowledge the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (OFSP) and the CONACYT (project CB-2010/153492, Mexico) for some financial support. We acknowledge support for radiocarbon analyses from the National Science Foundation (Cooperative Agreement number, OCE-9807266). This work has involved a large number of people, and it is impossible to list all of them here. We would like to thank the sampling team: Miguel Gómez (from CEAC); Yanis Cruz, Alexander Lopeztegui, and Rafael Fuentes (from Centro de Investigaciones Pesqueras, Havana, Cuba); to the ALECRIN II tripulation: Reinaldo Hernandez (Captain), Tomas Serrano, and Ceferino Lara; and special thanks to Norberto Capetillo and Julio Baisre. We would like to give special thanks to Aniel Guillen from CEAC and Jean Bartocci (from IAEA-MEL), Laval Liong Wee Kwong, Janine Gastaud (in memoriam) from the Radiometrics Laboratory of the IAEA Environment Laboratories. We are also grateful to IAEA Technical Cooperation Department and the Project Managers Michel Warnau and Carlos Alonso. We also give special thanks to Carlo Papucci and Roberta Delfanti for the detailed review of results and J.M. Smoak for the review of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos, CITMA-Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, Cuba

    M. Díaz-Asencio

  2. Institute of Radiation Physics, Lausanne University Hospital, Rue du Grand-Pré 1, 1007, Lausanne, Switzerland

    J. A. Corcho-Alvarado

  3. SPIEZ LABORATORY, Federal Office for Civil Protection, 3700, Spiez, Switzerland

    J. A. Corcho-Alvarado

  4. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 4510, Ciudad de México, México

    M. Díaz-Asencio, J. A. Sánchez-Cabeza & A. C. Ruiz-Fernández

  5. Marine Environment Laboratories, IAEA, Quai Antoine 1er, Monaco

    M. Eriksson

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  1. M. Díaz-Asencio
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  2. J. A. Corcho-Alvarado
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  3. J. A. Sánchez-Cabeza
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  4. A. C. Ruiz-Fernández
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  5. M. Eriksson
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Correspondence to M. Díaz-Asencio.

Additional information

Communicated by Marco Bartoli

Highlights

1. Dating of recent sediments in highly dynamic coastal marine ecosystem

2. Use of 210Pb (226Ra), 239,240Pu, and 14C for dating coastal marine sediments

3. Sedimentation and mixing processes over the past 100 years in coastal marine sediments

4. Impact of climatic events (hurricanes, rains) on sedimentation process in coastal environments

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Díaz-Asencio, M., Corcho-Alvarado, J.A., Sánchez-Cabeza, J.A. et al. Reconstruction of Recent Sedimentary Processes in a Carbonate Platform (Gulf of Batabano, Cuba) Using Environmental Radiotracers. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 1020–1034 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-016-0076-2

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