Variation of specific activity of 137Cs in the bottom ground of water reservoirs and waterside soil in Vilnius city, Lithuania

Abstract

The present work analyses the problem of radiocesium contamination of water bodies. The main object of research is the dynamics of radiocesium in water and bottom sediments of three Lithuanian lakes: Tapeliai, Juodis and Lydekinis. The Lake Tapeliai basin is of the glacier origin and has the bottom sources. The Lake Juodis is a running shallow lake with the thick layer of bottom sediments (over 7 m). The Lake Lydekinis is a small humic lake with highly colored water. Sediments and water samples were analyzed for 137 Cs using a γ -spectrometric system. Investigation results deepen our knowledge on the processes of lake self-cleaning from anthropogenic pollutants and allow predicting the terms of super warm lake remediation after radioactive impacts. Estimating radioecological consequences of the radioactive impact to the natural water bodies, meromictic lakes are suggested as critical objects.