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Radionuclides in Louisiana Soils

Dep. of Chemistry, Dep. of Mathematics, Academic Computing Ctr., McNeese State Univ., Lake Charles, LA 70609;
Dep. of Chemistry, Dep. of Physics, Univ. of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504;
Dep. of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana Tech Univ., Ruston, LA 71272.

^* Corresponding author.

ABSTRACT

Concentrations of natural and man-made radionuclides including ⁴⁰K, ¹³⁷Cs, and some of the decay products of ²³⁸U and ²³²Th were determined in soil. Samples were taken at a set of permanent radiation monitoring stations and from random points across the state of Louisiana. The concentrations of the radionuclides were found to be correlated with soil suborder: the lowest values found in the Udults of the northern portion of the state and the highest concentrations found in the Aquepts of the flood plains and the Hemists of the coastal marshes, suggesting that processes such as weathering, transport of solids, and dissolution may be fractionating these elements into soils of water environments. The concentration of K was found to vary from 3180 to 24 900 mg kg^–1; U varied from 2.3 to 4.0 mg kg^–1; and Th from 8.0 to 24.1 mg kg^–1. Cesium-137, the fission product, was found only in the top 15 to 20 cm of the soils with no statistically significant aerial distribution across Louisiana.

The research reported here was part of a larger study to determine values of environmental radiation and radioactivity, a study supported by the Research and Development Fund of the Louisiana Board of Regents.

Received for publication November 10, 1986.