Assessment of changes in Chernobyl contamination and erosion rates within cultivated slopes using soil re-sampling method

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Abstract

The transformation of radioactive contamination of agricultural lands with the 137Cs isotope is one of the evidences of soil erosion. Quantitative assessment of changes in radionuclide inventories and the corresponding rates of soil loss can be carried out by repeated sampling of integral soil samples at key sites over long time intervals. Due to the high labor intensity, such studies are relatively few and have not previously been conducted in the zone of intense Chernobyl contamination in Central Russia. The method of repeated sampling (re-sampling) was used in 2023 within the plowed slopes of a small catchment area in the southern part of the Tula region, 26 years after a similar procedure was carried out in 1997. The changes in 137Cs inventories that occurred during this period turned out to be statistically significant, with an average reduction of more than 10%. According to a proportional erosion conversion model using relative changes in 137Cs inventories, the average annual flushing rate was estimated at 11.7 t ha-1 year-1. Such values of soil losses are generally comparable with the previously published results of independent mathematical modeling for this area. Thus, the use of the re-sampling method, including at new sites, is promising for assessing the rate of soil loss, and in addition makes it possible to verify existing erosion models and track long-term trends in the spatial transformation of radioactive contamination.

About the authors

M. M. Ivanov

Institute of Geography of RAS; Lomonosov Moscow State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: ivanovm@bk.ru

Faculty of Geography

Russian Federation, Moscow, 119017; Moscow, 119991

N. N. Ivanova

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: ivanovm@bk.ru

Faculty of Geography

Russian Federation, Moscow, 119991

V. N. Golosov

Institute of Geography of RAS; Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: ivanovm@bk.ru

Faculty of Geography

Russian Federation, Moscow, 119017; Moscow, 119991

A. A. Usacheva

Institute of Geography of RAS; IGEM of RAS

Email: ivanovm@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 119017; Moscow, 119017

G. A. Smolina

Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy

Email: ivanovm@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 127434

D. V. Fomicheva

Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute

Email: ivanovm@bk.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow, 119017

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