The interrelationships among plant biomass, plant surface area and the interception of particulate deposition by grasses.

The interrelationships among plant biomass, plant surface area and interception fraction were determined for the interception by corn of 238Pu-bearing particles released to the atmosphere from the H-Area nuclear fuels chemical separations facility on the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Plant in Barnwell County, South Carolina. The relationship between interception fraction and corn biomass was accurately approximated by a filtration model with an absorption coefficient of 3.60 m2 kg-1. A filtration model with an absorption coefficient of 2.91 m2 kg-1 accurately approximated the relationship between biomass and interception fraction for data compiled from the literature for a variety of grass species. A linear regression model accurately approximated the relationship between interception fraction and surface area, but was not a better predictor of interception fraction than the filtration model for biomass.