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Analysis of Gamma-Ray Spectra From Soils and Plants: II. Effect of Trees on the Distribution of Fallout¹

ABSTRACT

A detailed study of the distribution of fallout in soil from a forested area has been initiated. Surface soil samples (0 to 7.5 cm) collected at several distances from the stems of beech-(Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), tulip (Liriodendron tulipfera), scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea), hickory (Carya glabra), and white oak (Quercus alba) trees were analyzed by gamma-ray spectroscopy. The concentration of Cs¹³⁷ in the soil near the stem of a beech tree was about five times higher than at other positions under the canopy. This effect was about one-half as great for sugar maple and much less for the other species. The magnitude of this concentration is apparently related to the quantity of stemflow water, which may be appreciable with some species and negligible with others. Samples collected at four depth intervals (0 to 7.5, 7.5 to 15, 15 to 22.5 and 22.5 to 30 cm), in an area which included three of the trees, were also analyzed. Considerable leaching of Cs¹³⁷ occurred in soil adjacent to tree stems, apparently as a result of stemflow.

¹ This study was supported by Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(11-1)-414. It is published with permission of the director of the Ohio Agr. Res. & Develop. Center as Journal Article no. 57–66 and as USAEC Report No. C00-414-2. We gratefully acknowledge Messrs. Mark Elfield and Marvin Wachtman for valuable assistance in this study.

² Assistant Professor, Graduate Assistant, and Professor respectively, the Ohio Agr. Res. and Dev. Center, Wooster, and Ohio State University, Columbus.

Received for publication July 8, 1966. Accepted for publication August 16, 1966.