Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2021-72-3440
Radioactivity of soil in Croatia II: 137Cs, 40K, and absorbed dose rate
Marko Šoštarić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Branko Petrinec
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Mak Avdić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Ljerka Petroci
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Milica Kovačić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Željka Zgorelec
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Department of General Agronomy, Zagreb, Croatia
Božena Skoko
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislav Bituh
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Jasminka Senčar
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Gina Branica
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Zdenko Franić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Iva Franulović
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Davor Rašeta
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Ivan Bešlić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Dinko Babić
; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
We took samples of uncultivated soil from the surface layer (0–10 cm) at 138 sites from all over Croatia and measured their radionuclide activity concentrations with high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. This second part of our report brings the results on 40K and 137Cs to complement those on the 232Th and 238U decay chains addressed in the first part. Together they give the most complete picture of radioactivity of Croatian soil so far. Activity concentrations of 40K were the highest in the Pannonian region, and there was an opposite trend for 137Cs. We found that the concentrations of 137Cs tended to increase with altitude, annual precipitation, and vegetation density. The concentration ratio of 137Cs and K in soil, which indicates the potential for 137Cs entering food chains via uptake by plants, was the lowest in agriculturally important areas in the east of the Pannonian region. In addition, we used the obtained results on activity concentrations to calculate the related absorbed dose rate as a measure of external exposure to ionising radiation from soil. The sum of the absorbed dose rates for naturally occurring radionuclides and 137Cs showed that external exposure was generally the highest in the Dinaric region and Istrian Peninsula.
Keywords
gamma radiation; high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry; radioecology; representative radionuclides
Hrčak ID:
253756
URI
Publication date:
16.3.2021.
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