Variability of water content and of depth profiles of global fallout 137Cs in grassland soils and the resulting external gamma-dose rates.

137Cs from global fallout of nuclear weapon testings in the 1950s and 1960s was determined in successive layers (0-30 cm) of eight undisturbed grassland soils in Bavaria, Germany. The maximum activity concentration was found in soil layers between 4 and 15 cm below the surface. Using the vertical distribution of the cesium activity, which varied considerably from site to site, the mean residence half-time of 137Cs from global fallout in each soil layer was evaluated with a compartment model. These values ranged from 1.0 to 6.3 years/cm. The mean residence half-time averaged over all soil layers and all sites was 2.7 +/- 1.4 years/cm and, thus, about twice the corresponding residence half-time of the Chernobyl-derived 137Cs as determined in the same soil layers (also in 1993). The dose rate of the external gamma-radiation due to 137Cs from global fallout in the soil determined from the depth distributions varied between 0.34 and 0.57 (mean: 0.45 +/- 0.07) nGy/h per kBq/m2. The effect of soil water content on the dose rate was studied by considering four states of the soil, from water content zero to complete water saturation of the total pore volume. It was shown that the difference between the dose rates at the permanent wilting point and the field capacity, which both represent the most relevant water contents of soils, was only 10% of the dose rate at the permanent wilting point for all sites.