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The Specific Activity of the Naturally Occurring Radionuclides and Artificially Produced 137Cs in Soils and Herbaceous Plants of Rostov Oblast

  • SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF ARID TERRITORIES
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Abstract

This study examined the characteristics of distribution in plants and soils of the naturally occurring (226Ra, 232Th, and 40K) and artificially produced (137Cs) radionuclides in the conditions of the dry and semi-dry steppes for Rostov Oblast. As the research objects, it involves samples of soils and plants collected in Tsimlyanskii, Volgodonskii, Dubovskii, Proletarskii, and Orlovskii districts of Rostov Oblast in expeditions during 2001–2019. The specific activity (concentration) of the radionuclides in the soil was measured using the gamma-ray spectrometry of radionuclide analysis. The artificially produced 137Cs is unevenly distributed in the soil cover and vegetation of Rostov Oblast due to the specific fallout pattern after the Chernobyl disaster. The naturally occurring 226Ra and 232Th are comparable in their specific activity in the soils and herbage within the limits of the standard deviations (20–30%), which averages 21.2 Bq/kg and 24.8 Bq/kg for 226Ra and 232Th in plants and 22 Bq/kg and 27.1 Bq/kg for 226Ra and 232Th in soils. The concentration of 40К is 149.4 Bq/kg and 468.5 Bq/kg in plants and soils, respectively; it is governed by distinctive features of solonetzic soils of the dry-steppe zone in Rostov Oblast. Series were created based on specific activity of radionuclides in the plants herbage: 40K > 226Ra ≥ 232Th > 137Cs.

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Funding

The work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (State Assignment in the domain of research activity, the Southern Federal University, 2020), topic no. BAЗ0110/20-3-07IF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Physics, Southern Federal University, 344090, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    E. A. Buraeva

  2. Ivanovskii Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, 344090, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    O. S. Bezuglova

Authors
  1. E. A. Buraeva
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  2. O. S. Bezuglova
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Correspondence to E. A. Buraeva or O. S. Bezuglova.

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Statement on the welfare of animals. This article does not contain any studies involving animals performed by any of the authors.

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Translated by E. Kuznetsova

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Buraeva, E.A., Bezuglova, O.S. The Specific Activity of the Naturally Occurring Radionuclides and Artificially Produced 137Cs in Soils and Herbaceous Plants of Rostov Oblast. Arid Ecosyst 13, 65–72 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096123010031

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