A Statistical Approach for Estimating the Radiocesium Interception Potential of Soils
1999
Waegeneers, N. | Smolders, E. | Merckx, R.
The solid-liquid distribution of radiocesium (¹³⁷Cs) varies extensively among soil types. A statistical approach was used to relate ¹³⁷Cs sorption with soil properties. Eighty-eight pasture soils were sampled in Belgium. All soil samples were characterized for texture, cation exchange capacity, exchangeable K, Ca, and Mg content, pH and organic C content. Soil samples were equilibrated in a 10⁻¹ M CaCl₂ — 5.10⁻⁴ M KCl solution. Adsorption of ¹³⁷Cs was measured after 16 h in this medium. The solid-liquid concentration ratio, KD, of ¹³⁷Cs in this specific ionic scenario allows for the calculation of the Radiocesium Interception Potential (RIP), which in turn can be used for KD predictions for a wide range of different ionic scenarios. The RIP varied from 54 to 11 200 mmolc kg⁻¹. Stepwise multiple regression between RIP and soil characteristics yielded statistically significant models (P < 0.001) for samples from each northern and southern Belgium. For northern Belgium the regression model only included texture fractions (R = 0.86, n = 62) whereas for southern Belgium the regressors were texture fractions and soil pH (R = 0.88, n = 26). The correlations between the RIP and soil characteristics depend strongly on the geological origin of the soil.
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