History of accumulation of mercury and nickel in Thane Creek, Mumbai, using Pb-210 dating technique

The study area Thane Creek, lies on the southern part of the Deccan belt of India between latitude 18 degrees 53'-19 degrees 04' N and longitude 72 de grees 48'-72 degrees 53' E and includes the Ulhas river estuaries. Lead-210 (half-life of 22.3 years) is used for an estimation of recent sedimentatio n rate in Thane creek using radiochemical separation and alpha counting of its grand-daughter Po-210. Th, concentration of Hg and Ni in vertical depth profiles of sediment is estimated to assess the anthropogenic input of the se nuclides due to large-scale industrialization which has taken place at t his site during last two decades. Depth-wise concentration profiles of Hg a nd Ni indicate positive evidence of continued fresh inputs into the Airoli section of Thane Creek. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.