Annual variation of (7)Be soil inventory in a semiarid region of central Argentina.
Reliable information on environmental radionuclides atmospheric entrance, and their distribution along the soil profile, is a necessary condition for using these soil and sediment tracers to investigate key environmental processes. To address this need, (7)Be content in rainwater and the wet deposition in a semiarid region at San Luis Province, Argentina, were studied. Following these researches, in the same region, we have assessed the (7)Be content along a soil profile, during 2.5 years from September 2009 to January 2012. As expected, the specific activity values in soil samples in the wet period (November-April) were higher than in the dry period (May-October). During the investigated period (2009 - beginning 2012) and for all sampled points, the maximum value of the (7)Be specific activity (Bq kg(-1)) was measured at the surface level. A typical decreasing exponential function of (7)Be areal activity (Bq m(-2)) with soil mass depth (kg m(-2)) was found and the key distribution parameters were determined for each month. The minimum value of areal activity was 51 Bq m(-2) in August, and the maximum was 438 Bq m(-2) in February. The relaxation mass depth ranges from 2.9 kg m(-2) in March to 1.3 kg m(-2) in August. (7)Be wet deposition can explain in a very significant proportion the (7)Be inventory in soil. During the period of winds in the region (September and October), the (7)Be content in soil was greater than the expected contribution from wet deposition, situation that is compatible with a higher relative contribution of dry deposition at this period of the year.
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW San Luis, Argentina.
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Lohaiza
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW San Luis, Argentina. Electronic address: rh.velasco@gmail.com.
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Velasco
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW San Luis, Argentina.
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Juri Ayub
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW San Luis, Argentina.
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Rizzotto
Departamento de Física, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Av. Gral. Paz 1499, 1650 San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Martín de Irigoyen 3100, 1650 San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Di Gregorio
Departamento de Física, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Av. Gral. Paz 1499, 1650 San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Martín de Irigoyen 3100, 1650 San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Huck
Grupo de Estudios Ambientales, Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis - CONICET, Ejército de los Andes 950, D5700HHW San Luis, Argentina.
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Valladares
D001118:Argentina; D001608:Beryllium / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma
D011868:Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D001608:Beryllium
(7)Be; (7)Be areal activity; Arid environments; Central Argentina; Relaxation mass depth