TY - JOUR
T1 - Suitability of 239+240Pu and 137Cs as tracers for soil erosion assessment in mountain grasslands
AU - Alewell, Christine
AU - Meusburger, Katrin
AU - Juretzko, Gregor
AU - Mabit, Lionel
AU - Ketterer, Michael E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF grant number 200021_146018 ). We would like to thank Marianne Caroni for her help with the sample preparation. We thank the Arizona Technology Research and Innovation Fund (TRIF) for funding of the ICP-MS instrumentation used in this study and the Department for Physics and Astronomy, University of Basel for measurement of 137 Cs.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Anthropogenic radionuclides have been distributed globally due to nuclear weapons testing, nuclear accidents, nuclear weapons fabrication, and nuclear fuel reprocessing. While the negative consequences of this radioactive contamination are self-evident, the ubiquitous fallout radionuclides (FRNs) distribution form the basis for the use as tracers in ecological studies, namely for soil erosion assessment. Soil erosion is a major threat to mountain ecosystems worldwide. We compare the suitability of the anthropogenic FRNs, 137Cs and 239+240Pu as soil erosion tracers in two alpine valleys of Switzerland (Urseren Valley, Canton Uri, Central Swiss Alps and Val Piora, Ticino, Southern Alps). We sampled reference and potentially erosive sites in transects along both valleys. 137Cs measurements of soil samples were performed with a Li-drifted Germanium detector and 239+240Pu with ICP-MS. Our data indicates a heterogeneous deposition of the 137Cs, since most of the fallout origins from the Chernobyl April/May 1986 accident, when large parts of the European Alps were still snow-covered. In contrast, 239+240Pu fallout originated mainly from 1950s to 1960s atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, resulting in a more homogenous distribution and thus seems to be a more suitable tracer in mountainous grasslands. Soil erosion assessment using 239+240Pu as a tracer pointed to a huge dynamic and high heterogeneity of erosive processes (between sedimentation of 1.9 and 7tha-1yr-1 and erosion of 0.2-16.4tha-1yr-1 in the Urseren Valley and sedimentation of 0.4-20.3tha-1yr-1 and erosion of 0.1-16.4tha-1yr-1 at Val Piora). Our study represents a novel and successful application of 239+240Pu as a tracer of soil erosion in a mountain environment.
AB - Anthropogenic radionuclides have been distributed globally due to nuclear weapons testing, nuclear accidents, nuclear weapons fabrication, and nuclear fuel reprocessing. While the negative consequences of this radioactive contamination are self-evident, the ubiquitous fallout radionuclides (FRNs) distribution form the basis for the use as tracers in ecological studies, namely for soil erosion assessment. Soil erosion is a major threat to mountain ecosystems worldwide. We compare the suitability of the anthropogenic FRNs, 137Cs and 239+240Pu as soil erosion tracers in two alpine valleys of Switzerland (Urseren Valley, Canton Uri, Central Swiss Alps and Val Piora, Ticino, Southern Alps). We sampled reference and potentially erosive sites in transects along both valleys. 137Cs measurements of soil samples were performed with a Li-drifted Germanium detector and 239+240Pu with ICP-MS. Our data indicates a heterogeneous deposition of the 137Cs, since most of the fallout origins from the Chernobyl April/May 1986 accident, when large parts of the European Alps were still snow-covered. In contrast, 239+240Pu fallout originated mainly from 1950s to 1960s atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, resulting in a more homogenous distribution and thus seems to be a more suitable tracer in mountainous grasslands. Soil erosion assessment using 239+240Pu as a tracer pointed to a huge dynamic and high heterogeneity of erosive processes (between sedimentation of 1.9 and 7tha-1yr-1 and erosion of 0.2-16.4tha-1yr-1 in the Urseren Valley and sedimentation of 0.4-20.3tha-1yr-1 and erosion of 0.1-16.4tha-1yr-1 at Val Piora). Our study represents a novel and successful application of 239+240Pu as a tracer of soil erosion in a mountain environment.
KW - Caesium
KW - European Alps
KW - Fallout radionuclides
KW - Plutonium
KW - Soil degradation
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U2 - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.12.016
DO - 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.12.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 24374184
AN - SCOPUS:84896396389
SN - 0045-6535
VL - 103
SP - 274
EP - 280
JO - Chemosphere
JF - Chemosphere
ER -