S u m m a ry : Previous studies have demonstrated that lichens can accumulate high amounts of radioactivity. Because of their long life expectancy they are suitable and inexpensive biological detectors of the nuclear fallout. In this study, liehen samples were collected from diffe­ rent locations in Austria over a period of more than 15 years. Samples were taken before, immediately after and a ...

The paper presents the results of our study on 238Pu, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Am and 90Sr concentration in human bones carried out on a set of 88 individual samples of central Europe origin. Bone tissue samples were retrieved under surgery while introducing hip joint implants. The conducted surgeries tend to cover either southern or northeastern parts of Poland. While for the southern samples only glo...

During explosive eruptions, airborne particles collide and stick together, accelerating the fallout of volcanic ash and climate-forcing aerosols. This aggregation process remains a major source of uncertainty both in ash dispersal forecasting and interpretation of eruptions from the geological record. Here we illuminate the mechanisms and timescales of particle aggregation from a well-character...

Immediately after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, a team of 40-50 researchers at the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Tokyo began to analyze the behavior of radioactive materials in the fallout regions. The fallout has remained in situ and become strongly adsorbed within the soil over time. 137Cs was found to bind strongly to the fine clay, weat...

Lakes have long been recognized as being rich storehouses of environmental information. A lake basin collects water, but also sediment, much of which has been weathered and transported via fluvial processes from the near and far reaches of its drainage basin. The amount of water held in a lake is recorded on the landscape in coastal erosional and depositional landforms created at the water’s ed...

A set of countermeasures aimed at reducing Cs uptake by plant products includes agrochemical measures based on changes in the soil properties after the application of ameliorants. The dynamic models for studying the effect of the application of potassium fertilizers and dolomite powder on Cs accumulation in plants are presented. Conceptual approaches to the development of models are based on th...

[1] Meteoric material reaching Earth contains an appreciable percentage of iron, much of which can be oxidized into nanometric-size particles produced by ablation and subsequent condensation in the atmosphere. New measurements of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) show that magnetic particles of extraterrestrial origin can be distinguished from terrigenous particles based on their smaller ...