Processes affecting long-term changes in Cs concentration in surface sediments off Fukushima

Otosaka, Shigeyoshi  

Based on monitoring data from 71 stations off the coast of Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki Prefectures, changing tendencies of Cs concentration in surface (0-10 cm) sediment are analyzed, and primary processes affecting the temporal changes are determined. In the coastal region (water depth 100m), between 2011 and 2015, concentrations of Cs in the surface sediment decreased at the rate of 27% per year in average. Such a remarkable temporal change in the Cs concentration of sedimentary radiocesium was not observed in the offshore regions. By applying observed data of vertical distribution of sedimentary Cs into a pulse input sediment mixing model, it was estimated that more than a half of the decreasing effect was explained by vertical mixing of Cs-bound surface sediment with less-contaminated sediment in the deeper layers.