Use of anthropogenic radioisotopes to estimate rates of soil redistribution by wind I: Historic use of Cs-137

作者：Van Pelt R Scott^*

来源：Aeolian Research, 2013, 9: 89-102.

DOI：10.1016/j.aeolia.2012.11.004

• Soil redistribution
• Wind erosion
• Radioisotopes
• Global fallout
• Cs-137
• Spatial variability

Wind erosion is increasingly scrutinized as a causative factor in soil degradation and fugitive dust emissions. Although models have been developed to predict wind erosion and dust emissions, they are not accurate in all locations. The temporal and spatial variability of aeolian processes makes local estimates of long-term average erosion costly and time consuming. Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons during the 1950s and 1960s resulted in anthropogenic radioisotopes that had not previously existed being injected into stratospheric global circulation and subsequently deposited on the Earth's surface. Many of these radioisotopes are strongly adsorbed to soil particles and their movement on the landscape is a powerful method for investigating soil redistribution by wind, water, and tillage. Cs-137 is the most commonly used anthropogenic radioisotope used to assess soil redistribution rates. Models have been developed to equate differences of radioisotope inventories with rates of soil redistribution and these models have been employed globally to assess soil redistribution on agricultural and natural landscapes. The radioisotope method for assessing soil redistribution rates has many advantages, but also a few limitations. One of the major limitations occurs when local sources of radioisotope contamination, particularly Cs-137, mask the pulse from global fallout, making temporal estimates of redistribution difficult or impossible. In this paper, I explore the importance, history, and applications of the radioisotopic technique using Cs-137, particularly as it applies to soil redistribution by wind. Published by Elsevier B.V.

• 出版日期2013-6