Lead isotopes as particulate contaminant tracers and chronostratigraphic markers in lake sediments in northeastern North America

The utility of lead (Pb) isotopes as tracers of particulate contamination and as chronostratigraphic markers was assessed in five lake sediment cores from the Great Lakes and southern Ontario region. The marker for smelting of highly radiogenic ores in the Upper Mississippi Valley in the mid-19th century was seen in the Pb isotopes in four lakes expanding the geographic range of this established marker into southern and central Ontario. This …