@article {424,
	title = {Distribution of artificial radionuclides in deep sediments of the Mediterranean Sea},
	journal = {Science of the Total Environment},
	volume = {407},
	year = {2009},
	note = {id: 871; 389FH Times Cited:2 Cited References Count:63Y},
	pages = {887-898},
	abstract = {Artificial radionuclides enter the Mediterranean Sea mainly through atmospheric deposition following nuclear weapons tests and the Chernobyl accident, but also through the river discharge of nuclear facility effluents. Previous studies of artificial radionuclides impact of the Mediterranean Sea have focussed on shallow, coastal sediments. However, deep sea sediments have the potential to store and accumulate pollutants, including artificial radionuclides. Deep sea marine sediment cores were collected from Mediterranean Sea abyssal plains (depth >2000 m) and analysed for Pu-239,Pu-240 and Cs-137 to elucidate the concentrations, inventories and sources of these radionuclides in the deepest areas of the Mediterranean. The activity - depth profiles of Pb-210, together with 14 C dating, indicate that sediment mixing redistributes the artificial radionuclides within the first 2.5 cm of the sedimentary column. The excess Pb-210 inventory was used to normalize Pu-239,Pu-240 and Cs-137 inventories for variable sediment fluxes. The Pu-239,Pu-240/Pb-210(xs) ratio was uniform across the entire sea, with a mean value of 1.24 x 10(-3), indicating homogeneous fallout of Pu-239,Pu-240. The Cs-137/Pb-210(xs) ratio showed differences between the eastern (0.049) and western basins (0.030), clearly significant impact of deep sea sediments from the Chernobyl accident. The inventory ratios of Pu-239,Pu-240/Cs-137 were 0.041 and 0.025 in the western and eastern basins respectively, greater than the fallout ratio, 0.021, showing more efficient scavenging of Pu-231,Pu-210 in the water column and major sedimentation of Cs-137 in the eastern basin. Although areas with water depths of >2000 m constitute around 40\% of the entire Mediterranean basin, the sediments in these regions only contained 2.7\% of the Pu-239,Pu-240 and 0.95\% of the Cs-137 deposited across the Sea in 2000. These data show that the accumulation of artificial radionuclides in deep Mediterranean environments is much lower than predicted by other studies from the analysis of continental shelf sediments. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V, All rights reserved.},
	issn = {0048-9697},
	doi = {10.1016/J.Scitotenv.2008.09.018},
	author = {Garcia-Orellana, J. and Pates, J. M. and Masque, P. and Bruach, J. M. and Sanchez-Cabeza, J. A.}
}
@article {477,
	title = {Late Holocene fine-grained sediments of the Balearic Abyssal Plain, Western Mediterranean Sea},
	journal = {Marine Geology},
	volume = {237},
	year = {2007},
	note = {id: 624; 139VA Times Cited:6 Cited References Count:57},
	pages = {25-36},
	abstract = {The Late Holocene fine-grained sedimentation in the deep central Balearic Abyssal Plain, Western Mediterranean Sea, has been studied after the analysis of high quality sediment cores from three multicoring stations, named A, B and C. The coring stations are 25 km apart from each other and form a triangle that is at the greatest distance from the nearest landmasses. The sediments consist of foraminifer-pteropod oozes (layers U1 and U4 from bottom to top), two pteropod oozes (U2 and U5) and a turbidite layer (U3). The same sequence has been identified in the three cores. The turbidite layer U3 that lies on top of U2 (C-14 AMS dated at 1814 cal yrs BP) ranges from 5 to I I cm thick and is clearly distinguished from the dominating hemipelagic sediments by colour variations, higher water content and the absence of planktonic foraminifer shells. Rather uniform values of organic carbon and nitrogen are also characteristic of the U3 turbidite unit, likely because of homogenisation during transport and emplacement. In addition, U3 unit shows higher contents of terrigenous elements such as K and Fe. Otherwise, the presence of zeolites in the turbidite layer supports the hypothesis of the Sardinian continental margin, where pyroclastic deposits are known, as the most likely source area for U3. Our results demonstrate the ability of turbidity currents originating on the margins surrounding the Balearic Abyssal Plain to reach the very centre of the basin during high sea level still stands as the present one. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.},
	issn = {0025-3227},
	doi = {10.1016/J.Margeo.2006.10.034},
	author = {Zuniga, D. and Garcia-Orellana, J. and Calafat, A. and Price, N. B. and Adatte, T. and Sanchez-Vidal, A. and Canals, M. and Sanchex-Cabeza, J. A. and Masque, P. and Fabres, J.}
}
