Effects of topography on caesium-137 in montane peat soils and vegetation

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between altitude and 137Cs fallout in soils and plants. The soils and plants, Calluna vulgaris, Erica cinerea and Molinia caerulea, were sampled across a transect of two valleys in north-western Ireland. The results provided evidence that greater 137Cs deposition to soils occurred at higher altitudes, and the data supported the findings of a previous investigation in the same area. A valley effect, whereby greater concentrations of 137Cs accumulated in plants on the lower altitudes of the valley floors, was shown to be significant. Deposition values for total 137Cs in soils were not correlated with plant concentrations, although a relationship between concentrations in C. vulgaris and M. caerulea was found to be statistically significant. No relationship was observed between the 137Cs from weapons fallout with that of Chernobyl origin in the 0-10 cm depth soils, although a significant correlation emerged between the same two components measured in C. vulgaris. The results suggest that existing definitions of concentration ratios and transfer factors are, for many reasons, inappropriate for studies of soil to plant transfer of 137Cs in peatland ecosystems.

Application of in-situ measurement to determine 137Cs in the Swiss Alps

“…3) or (ii) extreme outliers at 1850, 1950 and 2050 m a.s.l. are excluded which results in a homogeneous distribution of 137 Cs over 1800 m a.s.l.. A linear trend with altitude would be supported by other studies that have found a dependency of 137 Cs on altitude (McGee et al, 1992;Arapis and Karandinos, 2004). However, interference with snow cover (Haugen, 1992) as an explanation for outliers in higher altitudinal levels is also very likely.…”

Vertical Profile of C, N, P, K and Radionuclides in Soil Collected from Highland Tea Plantation Areas

“…Being igneous in origin the soil is known to contain natural radionuclides of uranium and thorium origins and 40 K (Ademola et al, 2010;Anjos et al, 2005;El-Arabi 2007;Moura et al, 2011). With high altitude of more than 1100 m from sea level, it is suspected that the anthropogenic radionuclide 137 Cs also deposited in the soil (Lettner et al, 2006;McGee et al, 1992). With the hilly location up to 20° gradient steep slope, the runoff is much greater than flat area (Aminuddin et al, 2005).…”