Radioactivity of soil in Croatia II: 137Cs, 40K, and absorbed dose rate

  • Marko Šoštarić Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Branko Petrinec Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Mak Avdić Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Ljerka Petroci Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Milica Kovačić Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Željka Zgorelec University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, Department of General Agronomy, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Božena Skoko Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Tomislav Bituh Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Jasminka Senčar Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Gina Branica Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Zdenko Franić Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Iva Franulović Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Davor Rašeta Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Ivan Bešlić Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Dinko Babić IMI
Keywords: gamma radiation, high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry, radioecology, representative radionuclides

Abstract

We took samples of uncultivated soil from the surface layer (0–10 cm) at 138 sites from all over Croatia and measured their radionuclide activity concentrations with high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. This second part of our report brings the results on 40K and 137Cs to complement those on the 232Th and 238U decay chains addressed in the first part. Together they give the most complete picture of radioactivity of Croatian soil so far. Activity concentrations of 40K were the highest in the Pannonian region, and there was an opposite trend for 137Cs. We found that the concentrations of 137Cs tended to increase with altitude, annual precipitation, and vegetation density. The concentration ratio of 137Cs and K in soil, which indicates the potential for 137Cs entering food chains via uptake by plants, was the lowest in agriculturally important areas in the east of the Pannonian region. In addition, we used the obtained results on activity concentrations to calculate the related absorbed dose rate as a measure of external exposure to ionising radiation from soil. The sum of the absorbed dose rates for naturally occurring radionuclides and 137Cs showed that external exposure was generally the highest in the Dinaric region and Istrian Peninsula.

Published
2021-01-18
How to Cite
1.
Šoštarić M, Petrinec B, Avdić M, Petroci L, Kovačić M, Zgorelec Željka, Skoko B, Bituh T, Senčar J, Branica G, Franić Z, Franulović I, Rašeta D, Bešlić I, Babić D. Radioactivity of soil in Croatia II: 137Cs, 40K, and absorbed dose rate. Arh Hig Rada Toksikol [Internet]. 2021Jan.18 [cited 2024Mar.28];72(1). Available from: https://arhiv.imi.hr/index.php/arhiv/article/view/1294
Section
Original article

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