Mobility of Natural Radionuclides and Selected Major and Trace Elements Along a Soil Toposequence in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Abstract

Natural gamma-emitting radionuclides ( 238 U, 226 Ra, 232 Th, 210 Pb) and selected major and trace elements (Ca, K, Mg, Na, Fe, Al, Mn, Pb, Ba, Zn, Sr, Li, Co, Ni, Cu, Cr, Cd) were determined in a soil toposequence along a mountain slope of the

Spatial distribution of natural and artificial radionuclides at the catchment scale (South Central Pyrenees)

“…The background levels of natural gamma radionuclides fell within the range of values observed in the region and elsewhere in Spain (Navas et al, 2002b(Navas et al, , 2005a and were similar to those reported by Litaor (1995) andde Jong et al (1994) in North America and by Fujiyoshi & Sawamura (2004) in Germany.…”

“…Furthermore, in the forest side of the catchment where carbonate content and pH were low, leaching was favoured especially in rich organic soils and, consequently, 11 some clays have accumulated in the deepest layers (Navas et al, 2005a). However this is not observed at the shrub side where carbonates are abundant.…”

“…An understanding of the pathways by which radioactivity reaches humans requires an assessment of the soil properties that affect the abundance and distribution of radionuclides. With this purpose most studies have been at the soil profile scale (Sully et al, 1987;Navas et al, 2002aNavas et al, ,2005aFujiyoshi & Sawamura, 2004). However, little information exists on the spatial distribution of radionuclides in Mediterranean landscapes where the behaviour of natural gammaemitting radionuclides can be approached in an integrated approach based on the soil and the environmental processes operating at the catchment scale.…”

Impact of industries in the accumulation of radionuclides in the lower part of Ebro river (Catalonia, Spain)

“…For sludge samples from rice fields, the data obtained were in agreement with those reported by Navas et al (2005) for cultivated soil from Spain's Pyrenees Mountains (1.6-8.4 Bq/kg). The high dispersion of these values is due to the remobilisation and homogenisation of the cultivated soils.…”

Ingestion of U(nat),226Ra,230Th and210Po in vegetables by adult inhabitants of Bagjata uranium mining area, Jharkhand, India

“…This is, in part, due to the fact that 210 Po is very insoluble in water (Tanaka et al, 1983), therefore the majority of 210 Po in the water column is bound to suspended particulate material. Moreover, 210 Po is very strongly adsorbed by Fe(OH) 3 in the soil so the concentration in water is negligible (Wanty et al, 1991;Navas et al, 2005). 230 Th is also very insoluble in water so its activity in water is negligible.…”