INTRODUCTION AND METHODS
The data ceported here concern the uptake of Co-137 oy
plants from soils of Rongelap Atoll, Marshali Islands, with
3pecial reference to fertilization of the
and K.
culture
soil with N, P,
The report includes the results of greanhousa pot
tasts using Rongelap top soil, as well as
foliar
analyses of native vegetation growing on the atoll.
Rongelap
Atoll was contaminated by radioactive fallout on March 1,
The principal radionuclide found in plant tissues in
1353 was Cs-137.
few inches
Radionuclides in the soil remain
1954.
1958 and
in the ‘on
with 90% or more of che radioactivity in the :ap
two inches or less.
In the curren: gruenkouse studies,
iomaio
and
squash
Diants were grown in Jeattle om top soil (0 to 10 inches) collee¢ted in a
coconut grove on
Rongelap Island.
{perhaps better called soil material)
The
soil
consists entirely of cal-
cium carbonate fragments derived from corals anc foraminifera,
into which is incorporated about 9% organic matter.
In
the
rather coarse unsieved field soil the pER is 3.0; the cation
exchange capacity ia attributable entirely to the organic fraction and is about 8 meq per 100 gm; among the axchangeable
cations there are about 80% Ca,
soil is coarse, very friable,
15% Mg, 4% Na, and 0.7% K; the
and highly porous.