Deposition of radiocesium to the soil by stemflow, throughfall and leaf-fall from beech trees

The amount of Chernobyl-derived 137Cs transferred to the soil by stemflow, throughfall (precipitation under the tree crown), and leaf-fall from three beeches was investigated as a function of time in the growing seasons of 1991 and 1992. Up to 70 Bq/week was deposited with the stemflow, mainly in dissolved form (< 0.45 micron) rather than in particulate form (> 0.45 micron). The ratio of dissolved radiocesium to particulate radiocesium was about 10 in the stemflow. It varied considerably with time, but since these variations followed the same pattern for all three trees, they indicated a common cause to be responsible for the fractionation of radiocesium (e.g. meterological conditions for bark weathering). A significant correlation was observed for the amount of dissolved 137Cs (in Bq) and the amount of stemflow (in liters). The 137Cs concentration in the stemflow (in Bq/1), however, decreased with increasing stemflow intensity (in Bq/week). For particulate radiocesium such correlations were not detected. Up to 5 Bq/m2 per week was deposited with the throughfall from the canopy, mainly in particulate form (ratio dissolved radiocesium to particulate radiocesium = 0.34). The mean total annual amounts of 137Cs deposited to the ground (dissolved+particulate) for the three trees were: stemflow: 1991 600 Bq; 1992 460 Bq; throughfall: 1991 and 1992 approximately 100 Bq/m2 each; leaffall: 1992 approximately 10 Bq/m2. The data indicate that at present a substantial amount of the radiocesium in the leaves derives already from root uptake.