The content and behavior of heavy natural radionuclides in gray and agro-gray soils of the Tula zasek

Abstract

From 1978 to 2021, the migration parameters and dynamics of the distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in arable and virgin soils of the Tula region were studied. Identical patterns of distribution of ¹³⁷Cs from global and Chernobyl fallout in the soil profile of leached chernozems were revealed. On arable land, agrotechnical measures contribute to the uniform distribution of ¹³⁷Cs in the arable soil layer. In virgin soil horizons of chernozem soils of meadow phytocenoses, the processes of redistribution of radionuclides in the surface layers were most active in the first 10-year period after the fallout, which this contributed to the equalization of ¹³⁷Cs content in layers 0–2 and 2–5 cm and its increase in the 5–10 cm layer to more than 30% by the beginning of 2000. Nowadays, more than 75% of the ¹³⁷Cs content in virgin chernozem soils of the Tula region is concentrated in the upper 15 cm layer, and the penetration depth of radionuclides reaches 40–45 cm.