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The interception and wash-off fraction of 7Be by bean plants in the context of its use as a soil radiotracer

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Abstract

In soil redistribution studies employing 7Be, the radionuclide inventories and their spatial uniformity in soil can be influenced by the crop coverage conditions. A relatively high 7Be interception factor, normalized to the leaf area index (LAI), of 0.61 ± 0.08 (LAI value 0.87 ± 0.06) was determined after 0.4 mm precipitation. After a second 7.2 mm rainfall, the interception factor had a value of 0.36 ± 0.04, for 0.30 ± 0.02 LAI value. Wash-off experiments with deionized water showed that the released 7Be fraction was limited within a range of 29–37 % of the initial concentration of leaf deposit.

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Acknowledgments

This research is a follow-up contribution to the IAEA Coordinated Research Project D.1.20.11: ‘Integrated isotopic approaches for an area-wide precision conservation to control the impacts of agricultural practices on land degradation and soil erosion’. The authors acknowledge the support provided by Mr. Minh-Long Nguyen and Mr. Manfred Groening at the different stages of the project. The help of Mr. Arsenio Toloza during sample collection and handling is much appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Fântânele 30, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Andra-Rada Iurian

  2. Soil and Water Management & Crop Nutrition Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division for Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria

    Andra-Rada Iurian, Gerd Dercon, Joseph Adu-Gyamfi & Lionel Mabit

  3. Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, IAEA Environment Laboratories, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria

    Gyula Kis-Benedek, Alessia Ceccatelli & Sandor Tarjan

  4. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Pl4 8AA, UK

    William Blake

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  1. Andra-Rada Iurian
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Correspondence to Andra-Rada Iurian.

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Iurian, AR., Dercon, G., Adu-Gyamfi, J. et al. The interception and wash-off fraction of 7Be by bean plants in the context of its use as a soil radiotracer. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 306, 301–308 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3948-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-3948-1

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