Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), 8903, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE-IPSL), UMR 8212 (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, l'Orme des Merisiers, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 16;10(1):11858. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68736-2.
Global nuclear weapon testing and the Chernobyl accident have released large amounts of radionuclides into the environment. However, to date, the spatial patterns of these fallout sources remain poorly constrained. Fallout radionuclides (Cs, Pu, Pu) were measured in soil samples (n = 160) collected at flat, undisturbed grasslands in Western Europe in the framework of a harmonised European soil survey. We show that both fallout sources left a specific radionuclide imprint in European soils. Accordingly, we used plutonium to quantify contributions of global versus Chernobyl fallout to Cs found in European soils. Spatial prediction models allowed for a first assessment of the global versus Chernobyl fallout pattern across national boundaries. Understanding the magnitude of these fallout sources is crucial not only to establish a baseline in case of future radionuclide fallout but also to define a baseline for geomorphological reconstructions of soil redistribution due to soil erosion processes.
全球核武器试验和切尔诺贝利事故向环境中释放了大量的放射性核素。然而，迄今为止，这些沉降物源的空间模式仍然受到很大限制。在一项协调一致的欧洲土壤调查框架内，在西欧平坦、未受干扰的草原上采集了 160 个土壤样本，对其中的沉降物放射性核素（Cs、Pu、Pu）进行了测量。我们表明，这两个沉降物源都在欧洲土壤中留下了特定的放射性核素印记。因此，我们使用钚来量化全球沉降物与切尔诺贝利沉降物对欧洲土壤中发现的 Cs 的贡献。空间预测模型允许首次评估跨越国界的全球与切尔诺贝利沉降物的模式。了解这些沉降物源的规模不仅对于在未来放射性核素沉降的情况下建立基线很重要，而且对于由于土壤侵蚀过程导致的土壤再分布的地貌重建定义基线也很重要。
