Chernobyl cesium in the sediments of Lake Høysjøen, Central Norway

Abstract

The distribution of radiocesium in the sediments of Lake Høysjøen was analysed 18 months after the Chernobyl fallout event. The concentration in the sediment was similar to concentrations in surrounding terrestrial soils. Local accumulation in a riverine plume is explained by surface runoff from frozen wetland when the snow in the drainage area melted. Most of the radiocesium in the lake was bound in the upper centimetre of sediment. © 1992.