PRELIMINARY IDENTIFICATION OF SOIL SEPARATES ASSOCIATED WITH FALLOUT ¹³⁷Cs

Abstract

A soil sample, from an accretionary environment, high in 137 Cs activity, was fractionated into exchangeable cations, organic-rich material, and sand, silt, and clay separates to determine the partitioning of 137 Cs activity. Most of the 137 Cs activity was associated with separates containing organic matter. About 21% of the 137 Cs activity consisted of exchangeable cesium while 51% of the activity was associated with organic-rich silt to sand-size separates. Results of this study have relevance to the use of this radionuclide for estimating soil erosion. Key words: Fallout cesium, soil separates, clays, organic matter, humic material