90Sr and 137Cs inventories in the depots and biogenic fluxes of the typical forest stands in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

Abstract

The paper reports results of the study of depots and biogenic fluxes of 90Sr and 137Cs in the typical coniferous (Scots pine) and deciduous (Silver birch) forest ecosystems of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone during 2016 - 2018. Data on activity concentrations and shares of the total activity of the studied radionuclides in the components of aboveground and underground biomass and their vertical distributions by 10 cm layers of the soil profile up to a depth of 1 m are presented. The downward and upward fluxes of 90Sr and 137Cs activity (including the processes of their deposition as a result of growth and formation biomass) are calculated in annual terms. Significantly higher 90Sr mobility in elements of forest ecosystems than 137Cs is confirmed. The estimated flux values for the investigated forest areas indicate a gradual further increase in the share of these radionuclides in the aboveground biomass components (up to 0.9 %·year-1 from the total activity in forest ecosystems) owing to the increase of organic matter stocks.

Dynamics of 137Cs Accumulation by Cranberry on Sphagnum Bogs of Polissia of Ukraine

“…In general, it is established that there is a gradual reduction of radioactive contamination of generative and vegetative organs of the cranberry with time (Krasnov & Orlov, 2004). In the last 10-15 years, only single publications on the results of the distribution of radionuclides in forest and marsh biogeocoenosis (Malostan et al, 2019;Holiaka et al, 2020) and fragmented data on radioactive contamination of the cranberry (Buzynnyi et al, 2019) have been published.…”