Stratigraphic profiles of Cs-137 activity in sedimentary rocks

Sediment cores are considered environmental archives as they can provide information on past conditions and constitute reliable records of the evolution of ecosystems. Environmental reconstruction through sediments is based on the assumption that the sediment layers are in the same order in which they were deposited (superposition principle) so that if these layers are not mixed they reflect the temporal sequence of previous events and it is possible to reconstruct the environmental conditions when they were formed. By studying sediment cores from aquatic environments information can be obtained on the temporal variation of sediment accumulation rates nutrient fluxes and contaminants such as heavy metals and persistent organic compounds.