Recent multi-tracer dating of the Black Sea sediments: Recovery of the late post-Chernobyl trends of radioactive contamination

Abstract The combined use of artificial ( 137 Cs, 238,239+240,241 Pu, 241 Am) and naturally occurring ( 210 Pb/ 226 Ra, 40 K) radionuclides as tracers for dating of the Black Sea sediments has allowed to reveal the recent increase in radioactive contamination of this basin with 137 Cs after the Chernobyl accident. This is presumably caused by the prolonged input of the man-made radionuclides that showed a rise in the late 1990s – early 2000s, and by a possible post-deposition remobilization of 137 Cs from the seabed.