Using (137)Cs measurements to estimate soil erosion rates in the Pčinja and South Morava River Basins, southeastern Serbia

The need for reliable assessments of soil erosion rates in Serbia has directed attention to the potential for using (137)Cs measurements to derive estimates of soil redistribution rates. Since, to date, this approach has not been applied in southeastern Serbia, a reconnaissance study was undertaken...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental radioactivity 2016-07, Vol.158-159, p.71-80
Main Authors: Petrović, Jelena, Dragović, Snežana, Dragović, Ranko, Đorđević, Milan, Đokić, Mrđan, Zlatković, Bojan, Walling, Desmond
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cesium Radioisotopes - analysis
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
Models, Theoretical
Radiation Monitoring
Radioactive Fallout
Rivers
Serbia
Soil - chemistry
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis
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Summary:The need for reliable assessments of soil erosion rates in Serbia has directed attention to the potential for using (137)Cs measurements to derive estimates of soil redistribution rates. Since, to date, this approach has not been applied in southeastern Serbia, a reconnaissance study was undertaken to confirm its viability. The need to take account of the occurrence of substantial Chernobyl fallout was seen as a potential problem. Samples for (137)Cs measurement were collected from a zone of uncultivated soils in the watersheds of Pčinja and South Morava Rivers, an area with known high soil erosion rates. Two theoretical conversion models, the profile distribution (PD) model and diffusion and migration (D&M) model were used to derive estimates of soil erosion and deposition rates from the (137)Cs measurements. The estimates of soil redistribution rates derived by using the PD and D&M models were found to differ substantially and this difference was ascribed to the assumptions of the simpler PD model that cause it to overestimate rates of soil loss. The results provided by the D&M model were judged to more reliable.
ISSN:1879-1700
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.04.001