Geochemical fractionation of 210Pb in oxic estuarine sediments of Coatzacoalcos River, Gulf of Mexico

Pb-210 activities were analyzed in surface sediments from the Coatzacoalcos River (Gulf of Mexico) to evaluate its distribution according to sediment grain size and in different geochemical compartments by using sequential extraction techniques. The geochemical fractionation experiments provided compatible results: by using the Tessier's method [1] more than 90% of the Pb-210 activity in the samples was found the residual fraction (primary and secondary minerals) and the remaining (<10%) in the iron and manganese oxides fraction of the sediments; whereas using the Huerta-Diaz and Morse method [2] the Pb-210 content was found in comparative amounts in the reactive, the silicate, and the pyrite fractions (accounting together for >80%), and the rest was found in the residual fraction. The grain size fractionation analyses showed that the Pb-210 activities were mostly retained in the clay fraction, accounting up to 60-70% of the Pb-210 total activity in the sediment sample and therefore, it is concluded that the separation of the clay fraction can be useful to improve the analysis of low Pb-210 content sediments for dating purposes.