137Cs inventories in soil in the Qaidam Basin, Tibetan Plateau

This paper presents measurements of cesium-137 (Cs-137) in the Qaidam Basin during 2019 with 39 soil samples across the landscape. The aim here is to use the results of Cs-137 inventories for the Qaidam Basin to subsequently estimate soil wind erosion. The Cs-137 inventories in the surface soil vary from lower limit detection (LDD) to 1,072 Bq m(-2), with a mean of 266 Bq m(-2). Overall, the Cs-137 inventories in the Qaidam Basin decreases from southeast to northwest. The highest Cs-137 inventories was found in farmland, and the lowest was found in Gobi. Wetlands had higher Cs-137 inventories than their neighboring sites.

Automated summary

This study presents measurements of Cs-137 in the Qaidam Basin in 2019 and estimates soil wind erosion based on Cs-137 inventories. The results show that Cs-137 inventories in the surface soil range from LDD to 1,072 Bq m(-2), with the highest values in farmland and the lowest in Gobi. Wetlands have higher Cs-137 inventories compared to their neighboring sites.