Features of the distribution of native (40K, 226Ra, 232Th) and artificial (90Sr, 137Cs) radionuclides in the soil of two different biotopes – beneath a vertical cliff colony of seabirds and on a gentle slope with a typical arctic tundra – were investigated. The investigations were performed in June 2018 in the vicinity of the Russian village of Barentsburg and Kolesbukhta Bay (Svalbard Archipelago). The specific activity of 90Sr and 137Cs in the soil of the Arctic tundra was significantly higher than in the soil beneath the bird colony. The specific activity of native radionuclides in the ornithogenic soil beneath the bird colony correlated positively: 40K and 226Ra, 40K and 232Th, 226Ra and 232Th. A moderate positive interrelation was noted between the content of 137Cs in the soil beneath the bird colony and the height above sea level. The 137Cs distribution beneath the bird colony testifies in support of the mechanism whereby this radionuclide is removed from the marine ecosystem.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 131, No. 4, pp. 219–223, October, 2021.
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Lebedeva, N.V., Usyagina, I.S. & Valuyskaya, D.A. Radionuclides in the Soil of Typical Arctic Tundra and Beneath a Bird Colony Near the Russian Village of Barentsburg (Svalbard Archipelago). At Energy 131, 219–224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-022-00870-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-022-00870-8