[137Cs profile distribution character and its implication for soil erosion on Karst slopes of northwest Guangxi]

This paper studied the profile distribution characters of 137Cs and soil organic carbon (SOC) on the Karst slopes and in the fissures in typical peak-cluster depression in Northwest Guangxi, aimed to approach the applicability of 137Cs method on Karst slopes and the implication of 37Cs for the characteristics of slope soil erosion. In all test profiles, there was a significant correlation between 137Cs and SOC, indicating that both of them might have the same loss pathway. On the slopes under secondary forests, 137Cs mainly existed within the depth 0-24 cm. On the upper middle and middle slope sites, 137Cs had an exponential decrease with depth, indicating no or slight surface erosion; while on the foot slope site, the distribution pattern of 137Cs indicated severer erosion. On the slopes with cultivated lands, 137Cs distributed uniformly within the plough layer. In the upper middle and middle slopes profiles, 137Cs mainly existed in the depth around 15 cm and far less than the background value, indicating severe soil erosion; while in foot slope profiles, 137Cs was aggraded to the depth 45 cm. A discontinuous distribution of 137Cs in the profiles was detected on the foot slopes under secondary forests, on the upper middle and foot slopes of cultivated lands, and in the fissures, indicating that the soil particles on Karst slopes had a trend of losing with rainwater to the underground, but the loss quantity was negligible, compared with surface erosion.