Use of 210Pb dating models for estimating sedimentation rate of a typical sediment core taken in the Ba Lat coastal area (Red River)

Abstract

Sediment cores were taken in the coastal area of Ba Lat estuary (Red River), in the Xuan Thuy national park. Each core was cut into slices of 4 cm in thickness, numbered from top to bottom and then analyzing for radionuclides (226Ra, 137Cs and 210Pb). Computational dating models were used to determine the age and sedimentation rate for each sediment core. This report presents the results of applying computational models to the sediment core BL13 that could provide a general methodology for determining the age and the sedimentation rate of the sediment cores taken in the coastal area of Ba Lat estuary. Results show that Constant rate of supply (CRS) model is probably the best model for determining the sedimentation rate. For the sediment core BL13, the use of the Composite model by adjusting the results of the CRS model in combination with the time marker of August 1971 (the time of the historical flood event on the Red River) seems to give the most reasonable results. The average sedimentation rate at the BL13 site before 1960 was about 0.5 cm/year. The rate had increased significantly from 1960, up to the highest value of 1.5 cm year-1 in the 1970s and then decreased to about 1.0 to 1.2 cm/year from the 1980s to the present. The change in the sedimentation rate could be caused by the main flow changes and large floods of the Red River from 1960 to 1980.