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| Titel |
Suitability of 239+240Pu and 137Cs as tracers for soil erosion assessment in Swiss mountain grasslands |
| VerfasserIn |
Christine Alewell, Katrin Meusburger, Gregor Juretzko, Lionel Mabit, Michael E. Ketterer |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250088783
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-2935.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| We compare the suitability of the anthropogenic FRNs, 137Cs and 239+240Pu as soil
erosion tracers in two alpine valleys of Switzerland (Ursern Valley, Canton Uri,
Central Swiss Alps and Val Piora, Ticino, Southern Alps). We sampled reference and
potentially erosive sites in transects along both valleys. 137Cs measurements of
soil samples were done with a Li-drifted Germanium detector and 239+240Pu with
ICP-MS. Our data indicates a heterogeneous deposition of the 137Cs, since most of the
fallout origins from the Chernobyl April/May 1986 accident, when large parts of the
European Alps were still snow-covered. In contrast, 239+240Pu fallout originated
mainly from 1950’s-1960’s atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, resulting in a more
homogenous distribution and thus seems to be a more suitable tracer in mountainous
grasslands.
Soil erosion assessment using 239+240Pu as a tracer pointed to a huge dynamic and high
heterogeneity of erosive processes (between sedimentation of 0.9 to 6.4 t ha1yr1 and erosion
of 2.3 to 14.1 t ha1yr1 in the Ursern Valley and sedimentation of 0.7 to 77 t ha1yr1 and
erosion of 1 to 5.3 t ha1yr1at Val Piora). Our study represents a novel, successful
application of 239+240Pu as a tracer of soil erosion in a mountain environment. |
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