Modeling aeolian transport of soil-bound plutonium: considering infrequent but normal environmental disturbances is critical in estimating future dose

Michelotti, Erika A.; Whicker, Jeffrey J.; Eisele, William F.; Breshears, David D.; Kirchner, Thomas B.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2013.01.011

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In more humid climates, disturbance of the vegetative cover by fire releases anthropogenic radionuclides contained in the litter layer as smoke (Strode et al., 2012), and after, the loss of vegetative cover increases the hazard of soil dust emissions (Whicker, Pinder, & Bresehars, 2006; Whicker, Pinder, Breshears, & Eberhart, 2006). Aeolian transport of radionuclides from the soil can be modeled and predicted to allow estimation of inhalation doses off previously contaminated, but recently disturbed, soils (Michelotti et al., 2013). Radionuclides in dust are used to estimate the age of atmospheric aerosols (Han & Zender, 2010), and loss or gain of fallout anthropogenic radionuclides has been used to estimate decadal rates of soil redistribution by wind (Van Pelt, 2013; Van Pelt & Ketterer, 2013; Van Pelt et al., 2007).…”

Section: Effects On Environmental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Tong

Gill

Sprigg

et al. 2023

Reviews of Geophysics

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Risks associated with dust hazards are often underappreciated, a gap between the knowledge pool and public awareness that can be costly for impacted communities. This study reviews the emission sources and chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of airborne soil particles (dust) and their effects on human and environmental health and safety in the Pan‐American region. American dust originates from both local sources (western United States, northern Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina) and long‐range transport from Africa and Asia. Dust properties, as well as the trends and interactions with criteria air pollutants, are summarized. Human exposure to dust is associated with adverse health effects, including asthma, allergies, fungal infections, and premature death. In the Americas, a well‐documented and striking effect of soil dust is its association with Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley fever, an infection caused by inhalation of soil‐dwelling fungi unique to this region. Besides human health, dust affects environmental health through nutrients that increase phytoplankton biomass, contaminants that diminish water supply and affect food (crops/fruits/vegetables and ready‐to‐eat meat), spread crop and marine pathogens, cause Valley fever among domestic and wild animals, transport heavy metals, radionuclides and microplastics, and reduce solar and wind power generation. Dust is also a safety hazard to road transportation and aviation, in the southwestern US where blowing dust is one of the deadliest weather hazards. To mitigate the harmful effects, coordinated regional and international efforts are needed to enhance dust observations and prediction capabilities, soil conservation measures, and Valley fever and other disease surveillance.

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Section: Effects On Environmental Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Tong

Gill

Sprigg

et al. 2023

Reviews of Geophysics

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“…In more humid climates, disturbance of the vegetative cover by fire releases anthropogenic radionuclides contained in the litter layer as smoke (Strode et al, 2012), and after, the loss of vegetative cover increases the hazard of soil dust emissions (Whicker, Pinder, & Bresehars, 2006;Whicker, Pinder, Breshears, & Eberhart, 2006). Aeolian transport of radionuclides from the soil can be modeled and predicted to allow estimation of inhalation doses off previously contaminated, but recently disturbed, soils (Michelotti et al, 2013). Radionuclides in dust are used to estimate the age of atmospheric aerosols (Han & Zender, 2010), and loss or gain of fallout anthropogenic radionuclides has been used to estimate decadal rates of soil redistribution by wind (Van Pelt, 2013;Van Pelt & Ketterer, 2013;Van Pelt et al, 2007).…”

Section: Radioactive Contamination (Radionuclides) In Dustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Tong

Baklanov

Barker

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Risks associated with dust hazards are often underappreciated, a gap between the knowledge pool and public awareness that can be costly for impacted communities. This study reviews the emission sources and chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of airborne soil particles (dust) and their effects on human and environmental health and safety in the Pan-American region. American dust originates from both local sources (western United States, northern Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina) and long-range transport from Africa and Asia. Dust properties, as well as the trends and interactions with criteria air pollutants, are summarized. Human exposure to dust is associated with adverse health effects, including asthma, allergies, fungal infections, and premature death. In the Americas, a well-documented and striking effect of soil dust is its association with Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley fever, an infection caused by inhalation of soil-dwelling fungi unique to this region. Besides human health, dust affects environmental health through nutrients that increase phytoplankton biomass, contaminants that diminish water supply and affect food (crops/ fruits/vegetables and ready-to-eat meat), spread crop and marine pathogens, cause Valley fever among domestic and wild animals, transport heavy metals, radionuclides and microplastics, and reduce solar and wind power generation. Dust is also a safety hazard to road transportation and aviation, in the southwestern US where blowing dust is one of the deadliest weather hazards. To mitigate the harmful effects, coordinated regional and international efforts are needed to enhance dust observations and prediction capabilities, soil conservation measures, and Valley fever and other disease surveillance.Plain Language Summary Soil particles suspended in the air, commonly known as dust, impose substantial risks to many sectors of society, including human health, environmental health, transportation safety and the general economy. This work focuses on the dust effects in the Pan-American region, where the knowledge is rather fragmented, but impacts are costly.

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“…Several studies (Schimmack et al, 2001;Tims et al, 2010;Hoo et al, 2011;Lal et al, 2013;Michelotti et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2015;Meusburger et al, 2018) have highlighted 239+240 Pu's suitability as a soil redistribution tracer. However, to date, direct validation efforts to compare on-site FRN-based soil erosion rates with off-site sediment yields have focused on other FRNs such as Cs-137 https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1359 Preprint.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validating Plutonium-239+240 as novel soil redistribution tracer – a comparison to measured sediment yield

Meusburger

Porto²,

Waldis³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Abstract. Quantifying soil redistribution rates is a global challenge addressed with direct sediment measurements (e.g., traps), models and isotopic, geochemical and radiogenic tracers. The isotope of Plutonium, namely Pu-239+240, is a relatively new soil redistribution tracer in this challenge. Direct validation of Pu-239+240 as soil redistribution is, however, still missing. We used a unique sediment yield time series in Southern Italy, reaching back to the initial fallout of Pu-239+240 to verify Pu-239+240 as a soil redistribution tracer. Distributed soil samples (n=55) were collected in the catchment, and at potential undisturbed reference sites (n=22), Pu-239+240 was extracted, measured with ICP-MS and converted to soil redistribution rates. Finally, we used a Generalized Additive model (GAM) to regionalize soil redistribution estimates for the catchment. For the catchment sites, mean Pu-239+240 inventories were significantly reduced (16.8 ± 10.2 Bq m-2) compared to the reference inventory (40.5 ± 3.5 Bq m-2,) indicating the dominance of erosion. Converting these inventory losses into soil erosion rates resulted in an average soil loss of 22.2 ± SD 7.2 t ha-1 yr-1. The uncertainties of the approach stemmed mainly from the high measurement uncertainties of low-activity samples where samples have been bulked over depth. Therefore, we recommend taking incremental soil samples and extracting ~20 g of soil. The geographic coordinates and the flow accumulation best described the spatial pattern of erosion rates in the GAM model. Using those predictors to upscale Pu-derived soil redistribution rates for the entire catchment resulted in an average on-site loss of 20.7 t ha-1 yr-1, which corresponds very well to the long-term average sediment yield of 18.7 t ha-1 yr-1 measured at the catchment outlet and to Cs-137 derived soil redistribution rates. Overall, this comparison of Pu-derived soil redistribution rates with measured sediment yield data validates Pu-239+240 as a suitable retrospective soil redistribution tracer.

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Modeling aeolian transport of soil-bound plutonium: considering infrequent but normal environmental disturbances is critical in estimating future dose

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond

Validating Plutonium-239+240 as novel soil redistribution tracer – a comparison to measured sediment yield

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