Abstract
<p>This paper presents the results of determination of artificial <sup>137 </sup>Cs and natural <sup>40</sup>K activity concentrations and same heavy metals in soil samples from Tatra Mts. Results show some differences in the vertical distribution and of examined radionuclides and metals. The change of activity of <sup>137</sup>Cs in the soil samples depends mostly on the soil volume density and on the concentration of organic material. The state of "zero" <sup>137</sup>Cs activity was developed in the form of maps.</p>
Highlights
Radioactive substances are considered as one of the numerous types of pollution of the natural environment
For comparative purposes in several soil samples a wide range of elements was determined using fluorescence analysis: PIXE (Proton Induced X-ray Emission). It consisted of recording the characteristic X-ray spectra emitted from the excited atoms of the sample exposed to a beam of protons with an energy of 2.5 MeV coming from the van de Graaff accelerator
In the region of the Polish Tatras, activity of 137Cs in the year 2012 changed from 10.04 kBq/m2 for soil samples collected at the region of Staszicowe Lakes to 8.07 kBq/m2 for the samples located in the vicinity of Morskie Oko lake, which is almost 4 times higher comparing to the national average
Summary
Radioactive substances are considered as one of the numerous types of pollution of the natural environment. Important artificial radionuclide is 137Cs for the reason of its rather long half-life (30 years) and large dispersion in the environment. Between the years 2000–2015 there were made extensive studies of anthropogenic 137Cs and natural 40K activity levels and concentrations of selected heavy metals in soil [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18] These studies were carried out in several southern Polish mountain ecosystems. This paper presents the research concerned the area of the Tatra Mountains It was observed a large variation in the spatial distribution of 137Cs in the soil depending on the soil density, type and mineralogical composition. Special attention was attracted to the areas under legal protection or National Parks
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