The evaluation of 137Cs radioactivities in soils taken from the Babia Góra National Park

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine 137Cs and 40K radioactivities in soil samples taken from the Babia Góra National Park (BPN) in south Poland. The cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to discuss the obtained data. 10 cm thick soil cores were collected from the BPN area. Each sample was divided into three sub-samples. The samples were dried, homogenized and packed in polyethylene containers. The radioactivities of 137Cs and 40K were measured by means of gamma spectrometry. It was found that 137Cs radioactivity in the whole 10 cm soil cores was in the range from 1,916 to 28,551 Bq m-2. The radioactivity of 40K varied from 1,642 to 25,654 Bq m-2. Using CA it was possible to diverse the soils taking into account soil types. By use of the PCA method, it was chosen three factors which are appropriate to characterize researched parameters. © 2013 The Author(s).