Fallout beryllium-7 as a tracer in soil erosion investigations

Recent developments in the use of the environmental radionuclides Cs-137 an d Pb-210 for documenting medium-term soil erosion rates must be seen as an important advance. However, measurements of these radionuclides provide est imates of medium-term (i.e. ca. 45 or 100 years) soil redistribution rates and there is a need to explore the potential for using complementary radion uclides, to estimate erosion rates associated with individual events or sho rt periods. Beryllium-7 (Be-7, t(0.5) = 53 days) has the potential to fulfi l these requirements. This contribution presents some preliminary results f rom an investigation undertaken in a field near Crediton, UK, which success fully demonstrates the potential for using Be-7 as a tracer in soil erosion investigations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.