Atmospheric deposition of 10Be in Altzomoni rainfall

The optimization of preparation techniques for 10Be in rainfall samples and the approaches applied to improve the measurement of this radionuclide with the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system were carried out at LEMA-UNAM. A radiochemical procedure has been realized to measure 10Be in smaller samples than those reported in similar studies, reducing the sample volume from 2 L to 250 mL. The 10Be concentrations in the dissolved and particulate fraction of rain from the high-altitude rural site Altzomoni (Mexico) during 2017–2018 were determined for the first time at LEMA. The results show that the presence of particulate material is four orders of magnitude greater than the content of 10Be in the rainfall from Altzomoni. This work shows a mean concentration of (1.9 ± 0.2) × 104 and (3.3 ± 0.6) × 108 atoms per gram of rainfall in dissolved and particulate fractions.