Physicochemical Forms of Radionuclides
from the Chernobyl Fallout in Different Types
of Forest Litter

L. N. Mikhailovskaya, I. V. Molchanova, and E. N. Karavaeva

Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Division, Russian Academy of Sciences,
ul. Vos’mogo Marta 202, Yekaterinburg, 620144 Russia

Received August 20, 1998

Abstract—The effects of moisture content in forest litters on the migration and physicochemical transforma-
tion of ⁹⁰Sr and ^134+137Cs from the Chernobyl fallout were studied experimentally. The results showed that a
flow of mobile radionuclides forms out of decaying litters and increases proportionally to the degree of moist-
ening. Fixed forms of ⁹⁰Sr in litters are transformed with time into mobile compounds, whereas such forms of
^134+137Cs become stabilized. Radionuclides released from litters enter the soil, enriching it with their mobile
physicochemical forms.

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