SPATIAL INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS OF SLOPE PROCESSES EXPERIMENTAL STUDY USING INDICATIVE POTENTIAL OF CHERNOBYL ORIGIN CESIUM-137

• Main Authors: L. N. Trofimets, E. A. Panidi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Laboratory of Complex Mapping, Faculty of Geography, MSU 2014-01-01
• Series: InterCarto. InterGIS
• Online Access: http://intercarto.msu.ru/jour/article/view/87

Analysis of the authors's experimental data made it possible to discover that the Cesium-137 variability on the arable slope caused by geting sampling points in the area of block or interblock depressions that compose paleocryogenic polygonal-block microrelief. The surveys accomplished on experimental area were intended to clarify the Cesium-137 indicative potential for study of topsoil loss due to flushing. Estimation of the flushed topsoil thickness has been performed basing on comparison between the thickness of plow horizon in 1986 and current depth of Cesium-137 distribution. Two main problems were solved during research. First is the identification of erosion processes features within the elementary catchment areas with varying ruggedness degree. And the second is the detection of flush and accumulation features on the slopes of northern and southern exposure. Calculation of the Cesium-137 reserve in the modern plow horizon (0 - 20 cm) with the catchment area and profile curvature modeling made it possible to derive the preliminary relationship formula between soil loss in the elementary catchment area thalwegs and profile curvature.