- 52 Evaluation of Radioactivity in the Soils Soil samples for the October 21-23, 1955 collections were taken from the islands proper. Sand specimens were collected at the low tide line and from the lagoon bottom. One sample was taken from the bottom of the well at Rongelap village. The sampling method for soils differed from that of the previous Rongelap collections. soil were taken. In the earlier collections single samples of the top inch of In the October collections two samples were taken at each soil station, one to a depth of 3 inches and another directly below to a depth of 6 inches. Since, on the average, 65 percentof the activity of the top 3 inches of soil is located in the top inch*, direct comparisons between samples from the previous collections and the October collections may be made if the latter values for the top 3 inches are multiplied by two. Profile samples from the lagoon bottom were taken by a diver driving a 12-inch long, 1 1/2-inch diameter aluminum tube into the sand and corking the top and bottom of the tube. The core was removed from the tube at the Eniwetok laboratory and divided into 1-inch increments. Levels of radioactivity in the sand and soil of Rongelap and Ailinginae Atolls on October 21-24, 1955 are shown in Appendix G. Activity levels in the top 3 inches of soil at Kabelle and Labaredj varied from 4.4 to 11.5 uc/kg. The highest value for any soil sample collected during the above- mentioned time was found in a sample from Rongelap Island which contained 20.3 uc/kg of top 3 inches of soil. * Unpublished observation. This sample is not representative of the