Spatial Variations of Wet Deposition Rates in an Extended Region of complex Topography Deduced from Measurements of ~210Pb Soil Inventories

摘要

The radionuclide ~210Pb derived from gaseous ~222Rn present in the atmosphere becomes attached to the same aerosols as the bulk of the main pollutants sulphur and nitrogen. When scavenged from the atmosphere by precipitation, the ~210Pb is readily attached to organic matter in the surface horizons of the soil. Inventories of ~210Pb in soil can thus be used to measure the spatial variations in wet 9or cloud) deposition due to orography averaged over many precipitation events (half-life of ~210 Pb is 22.3 year).