As the Niigata Harbor basin facing to the Japan Sea is situated on the estuary of the River Shinano, the entrance is buried by sands from the upstream of the river and from the seaside. To determine which directions the sands mainly come from, the glass sands (a mean size of 0.1
mm) containing
60Co were released on the estuary bottoms twice in 1961.
At the first survey, in August a total activity of 140
mc was released at five points selected in this area, and the movement of labelled sands was followed by a GM-counter until the end of October of the same year. The surveys showed that the sands moved relatively slowly in the summer season, some of the labelled sands was found up to 100
m from the injection point within the three months at the most dispersed area.
At the second time, in November, a total activity of 500
mc of
60Co was released in the similar manner, but at three points, instead of the previous five. The subsequent movement of sands was measured in April of the following year, because we intended to know the movement of sands by storms during the winter. As a result of this survey, it was found that the activity due to nuclear detonations in the autumn of the previous year prevented the accurate measurement by this counter. Because of this activity, we had to perform nuclide analysis of samples of sands taken from the bottom using a pulse height analyser. By this analysis we confirmed that the main constituent (emitting gamma rays) was
95Zr-
95Nb, followed by
103Ru and
142 Ce-
142 Pr.
After above survey, we investigated the movement of littoral sands under sea water using
46Sc- glass as tracer at the west coast of Niigata for two months from April to May 1962. This coast is one of the most well known place in Japan for the retrogression of the coast line. We carried out this survey to determine the main direction of transport of the sand material in the sea area within 500
m from the coast line and intended to get the datum for a measure of protection.
By this survey, the trajectories of radioactive sands could be exactly determined. Then, the relation between the trajectory and oceanographical data (wave, current, etc.) was studied. The results of this study suggested that the sands in this area were as a whole transported westward along the coast line through the year.
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