The effects of Holocene podzolisation on radionuclide distributions and dose rates in sandy coastal sediments

This study analyses the effect of a specific kind of soil development, podzolisation, on selected radionuclide concentrations and the derived dose rates. 100 samples from four sandy, podzolised regions in Jutland, Denmark, were dated by luminescence dating. Dose rates were determined by gamma spectrometry. Of the 100 samples, 31 were retrieved from three profiles intersecting soil horizons affected by podzolisation. At 35 locations, additional material was collected for supplementary geochemical analyses (soil pH, organic carbon content and extractable iron and aluminium). The geochemical data and grain size data were correlated with radionuclide activity concentrations. These correlations do not indicate any significant relationship between organic carbon or extractable iron/aluminium and radionuclide concentrations; this suggests that the radionuclides are mainly internally bound in primary minerals, unlike the extractable iron, which is generally associated with surface coatings. We conclude that the radionuclide distribution in these young sandy soils has been relatively unaffected by the podzolisation process. Thus it appears that the dose rate at these sites is unlikely to have changed significantly with time as a result of podzolisation, because the parent material is relatively unweathered and the activity is dominated by internally bound radionuclides.