28

in other soils, presumably because smaller particles have been
eroded away since fallout occurred.
Old Soil
A radiocautograph of a core from the old soil

(Fig. 12)

shows that the radioactivity extends to a greater depth and is
more diffusely distributed than in the young soils.

The surface

litter contains little radioactivity compared with the soil
surface.

Horizontal Movement

There is evidence of localized horizontal movement of radionuclides in the soil,

at least near the surface, which in turn

may affect vertical distribution.

Fig.

14 is a photograph and

radioautograph of a section of a soil core collected in old soil
on Kabelle Islet.

There is a darkened funnel-shaped area at the

top center of the radioautograph and a corresponding darker area
of high organic content in the core section.

The amount of

activity in the stem of the "funnel" appears to be too great to
be accounted for by leaching from the surface directly above.
Either a depression was filled with radioactive organic matter
after fallout, or the depression was filled before fallout and
the radionuclides were adsorbed when surface runoff water
filtered through the funnel of organic matter.

The latter

interpretation seems more probable since gamma-ray spectra of

por

Select target paragraph3