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The activity concentrations of (40)K, (238)U, (232)Th and (137)Cs have been measured using a gamma spectrometric method in different samples from the environment of two mountains in Serbia (altitude 1000-1100 m), during the period 2002-2007. The mountains Maljen and Tara (popular tourist destinations) are near Belgrade. On mountain Maljen, samples...
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... This slow decline is expected given the mentioned half-life of this radionuclide and the passage of time, as well as the fact that there were no new known contaminations in the previous decade which would reach this area. The maximal values of activity concentration of 137 Cs in mosses, in the period 2015-2019, are lower than the activity levels of 137 Cs determined in mosses collected on the territory of Serbia from the Zlatibor mountain in 2005 (Dragović et al. 2010), and the mosses collected from the Maljen mountain and NP Tara (Mitrović et al. 2009). Maximal values of 137 Cs (Bq kg −1 ) in mosses measured in this study are in agreement with values measured in mosses from the region of Northern Greece during the summer of 2016 (Betsou et al. 2018) and were higher compared to the Marmara region of Turkey (Belivermiş and Çotuk 2010). ...
The radiation status of the national park (NP) Djerdap (Eastern Serbia) is characterized using bioindicators (mosses). Mosses (16 species, 156 samples) were collected randomly within the area of NP Djerdap during the month of June, periodically from 2015 to 2019. Samples were collected in the regions of Dobra, Donji Milanovac, and Tekija. Within the mosses, the presence of 40 K and 137 Cs is regarded as a good indicator of radionuclides present in the environment due to their easy interchangeability with 39 K highly present in living moss organisms. The activity concentrations of gamma ray-emmiting radionuclides in samples were determined using high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry, an HPGe-ORTEC/Ametek detector. The determining activity concentrations of 40 K and 137 Cs in collected samples were as follows: for 40 K from 31.4 to 721 Bq kg −1 and for 137 Cs varied from 2.6 to 908 Bq kg −1. The average activity concentrations of 40 K and 137 Cs (Bq kg −1) in mosses in the period 2015-2019 were the lowest in moss samples collected in the Dobra region, and the highest in the area of Donji Milanovac. The most prevalent collected moss species within the Djerdap National Park was Hypnum cupressiforme. The determined activity concentrations in H. cupressiforme of 137 Cs for the whole region of NP Djerdap for all 5 years was 78.1 ± 70.3 Bq kg −1 and of 40 K was 181 ± 86.1 Bq kg −1 .
... The 137 Cs transport through terrestrial food chain depends on many factors: ecosystem type, soil type, moisture and clay content, rainfall, vegetation, activities of both animals and humans [8][9]. Consequently, 137 Cs is primarily present in the soil and some bioindicators such as mosses, mushrooms, berries and game meat [5,[10][11][12][13]. ...
... Our results show that the activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides are slightly higher than the global averages, except in Kraljev sto (1100 m). An analysis of uncultivated soil at Mt. Maljen [10] showed that at lower altitudes (200-650 m), the content of the natural radionuclides was above the global means, but as altitude increased, their content decreased. The mean values of the 40 K, 238 U, 226 Ra and 232 Th in the uncultivated soil were 254 Bq/kg, 33 Bq/kg, 33 Bq/kg and 29 Bq/kg, respectively, i.e. about two-fold lower than the results obtained in the present study. ...
... Before the Chernobyl accident, the activity concentration of 137 Cs in the soil in Serbia was less than 5 Bq/kg [7] and the deposition of 137 Cs in the soil was unequal and non-homogenous. Mitrović et al. [10] reported that the 137 Cs content in the uncultivated soil at Mt. Maljen significantly increased with altitude -from 19 Bq/kg at 200 m a.s.l., to 259 Bq/kg at 1100 m a.s.l. These findings are in contrast with the present study where we observe that the 137 Cs activity concentration in the cultivated soil increases as elevation increases from 200 m to 700 m (from 11 Bq/kg to 111 Bq/kg), but at the highest altitudes of 900 m and 1100 m, the 137 Cs content decrease several-fold (to 3.1 Bq/kg and 23 Bq/kg, respectively). ...
This paper provides activity concentrations of 40 K, 238 U, 226 Ra, 232 Th, and 137 Cs in samples of cultivated soil, hay, cow milk, cheese, mushrooms, and mosses collected at Mt. Maljen, Serbia, during 2018 and 2019. The average contents of 40 K (435 ± 33 Bq/kg), 238 U (42 ± 5 Bq/kg), 226 Ra (42 ± 4 Bq/kg) and 232 Th (47 ± 4 Bq/kg) in the soil are slightly higher than the global means. Radiation hazard index is less than one. 137 Cs is detected in soil (3.1-111 Bq/kg), hay (4.6-9.4 Bq/kg), cow milk (2.0 ± 0.2 Bq/kg), cheese (1.7 ± 0.2 Bq/kg), mushrooms (26 ± 2 Bq/kg), and mosses (21 ± 2 Bq/kg). Investigated dairy products are safe for consumption.
... Recently, radionuclides in soils and mosses have been investigated in regions of Serbia by many authors (Mitrović et al., 2009;Dragović & Mihailović, 2009;Grdović et al., 2010;Dragović et al., 2010;Čučulović et al., 2012;Mitrović et al., 2016;Krmar et al., 2018). This is the first environmental study which used mosses as indicators of radiological contamination in area of Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok municipalities, North Kosovo and Metohija. ...
This paper deals with investigations of elemental concentrations and soil-to-moss transfer factors of radionuclides in area of municipalities Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok. Twelve samples of soil and moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. were collected during May 2018. Transfer factors of radionuclides: 226Ra, 232Th, 40Kand 137Cs were calculated with regard to elemental concentrations of radionuclides in soil and moss samples. Analysis was done in order to indicate the different ways of adopting radionuclides by mosses. According to calculated transfer factors and analysis, authors concluded that the soil is dominant source of natural radionuclides and their concentration in moss occurred due to resuspension of soil particles, while artificial 137Cs is present in soil and moss samples as a consequence of atmospheric dry and wet deposition.
... In recent years mosses have been extensively investigated as bio-indicators in many studies, with particular interest focused on radionuclides [10][11][12][13], metals [14][15][16][17], persistent organic pollutants [18][19][20], etc. Few studies that dealt with radioactivity and metals in moss in mountain regions of Serbia were conducted over the past ten years [13,[21][22][23][24]. ...
The study investigates mosses (Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw.) as bioindicators of pollution in three non-urban mountain areas of northern Kosovo and Metohija regions. Concentrations of radionuclides and metals were measured in moss and soil samples. 137Cs specific activities in soil were strongly correlated with organic matter content. 137Cs in mosses was significantly higher in coniferous than in deciduous forests. 7Be measured in moss samples was increasing with altitude. Concentrations of Ni, Cr, Cu and Zn exceeded regulatory limits in many soil samples from two mountains (Kopaonik and Rogozna). However, concentrations of elements in mosses were weakly correlated with those in soil.
... The soil samples from Mt. Maljen were collected at four altitudes over 2002(Mitrović et al., 2009. Table 1 gives the gammaspectrometric results. ...
... Contamination of the soil with 137 Cs is a starting point for transfer of this radionuclide to plants and onwards through the food chain. Its presence was detected in mosses, mushrooms, game meat and milk of animals from the test sites (Mitrović et al., 2009). The highest content of 137 Cs was found in sheep meat (45.8 Bq/kg) and goat milk (24.1 Bq/kg) sampled from animals grazing at 1000 m a.s.l. ...
... Tara, while Table 4 shows the calculated radiation hazard parameters. In all soil samples, the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were below the world average (Table 3), except the altitude of 1100 m where the content of 238 U, 226 Ra, and 232 Th was higher (Djurić et al., 1996;Mitrović et al., 2009;Rakić et al., 2014). ...
This review paper discusses the content of natural ( 40K, 238U, 226Ra, and 232Th) and artificial (137Cs) radionuclides in the soil of the mountains of Maljen, Tara and Kopaonik in the Republic of Serbia over 2002-2015. In addition, the paper gives radiation hazard parameters, i.e., radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, external hazard index, annual gonadal dose equivalent, and excess lifetime cancer risk outdoors that we calculated from the obtained content of the natural radionuclides in the soil samples. We compared the parameters to previously published results for different parts of the country and looked into the radioecological status of the investigated areas.
... Recently, radionuclides in soils and mosses have been investigated in regions of Serbia by many authors (Mitrović et al., 2009;Dragović & Mihailović, 2009;Grdović et al., 2010;Dragović et al., 2010;Čučulović et al., 2012;Mitrović et al., 2016;Krmar et al., 2018). This is the first environmental study which used mosses as indicators of radiological contamination in area of Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok municipalities, North Kosovo and Metohija. ...
This paper deals with investigations of elemental concentrations and soil-to-moss transfer factors of radionuclides in area of municipalities Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok. Twelve samples of soil and moss Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. were collected during May 2018. Transfer factors of radionuclides: 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs were calculated with regard to elemental concentrations of radionuclides in soil and moss samples. Analysis was done in order to indicate the different ways of adopting radionuclides by mosses. According to calculated transfer factors and analysis, authors concluded that the soil is dominant source of natural radionuclides and their concentration in moss occurred due to resuspension of soil particles, while artificial 137Cs is present in soil and moss samples as a consequence of atmospheric dry and wet deposition.
... The 137 Cs transport through terrestrial food chain depends on many factors: ecosystem type, soil type, moisture and clay content, rainfall, vegetation, activities of both animals and humans [8][9]. Consequently, 137 Cs is primarily present in the soil and some bioindicators such as mosses, mushrooms, berries and game meat [5,[10][11][12][13]. ...
... Our results show that the activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides are slightly higher than the global averages, except in Kraljev sto (1100 m). An analysis of uncultivated soil at Mt. Maljen [10] showed that at lower altitudes (200-650 m), the content of the natural radionuclides was above the global means, but as altitude increased, their content decreased. The mean values of the 40 K, 238 U, 226 Ra and 232 Th in the uncultivated soil were 254 Bq/kg, 33 Bq/kg, 33 Bq/kg and 29 Bq/kg, respectively, i.e. about two-fold lower than the results obtained in the present study. ...
... Before the Chernobyl accident, the activity concentration of 137 Cs in the soil in Serbia was less than 5 Bq/kg [7] and the deposition of 137 Cs in the soil was unequal and non-homogenous. Mitrović et al. [10] reported that the 137 Cs content in the uncultivated soil at Mt. Maljen significantly increased with altitude -from 19 Bq/kg at 200 m a.s.l., to 259 Bq/kg at 1100 m a.s.l. These findings are in contrast with the present study where we observe that the 137 Cs activity concentration in the cultivated soil increases as elevation increases from 200 m to 700 m (from 11 Bq/kg to 111 Bq/kg), but at the highest altitudes of 900 m and 1100 m, the 137 Cs content decrease several-fold (to 3.1 Bq/kg and 23 Bq/kg, respectively). ...
... In recent years mosses have been extensively investigated as bio-indicators in many studies, with particular interest focused on radionuclides [10][11][12][13], metals [14][15][16][17], persistent organic pollutants [18][19][20], etc. Few studies that dealt with radioactivity and metals in moss in mountain regions of Serbia were conducted over the past ten years [13,[21][22][23][24]. ...
Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary. This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be self-archived in electronic repositories. If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website. You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com". Abstract The study investigates mosses (Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw.) as bioindicators of pollution in three non-urban mountain areas of northern Kosovo and Metohija regions. Concentrations of radionuclides and metals were measured in moss and soil samples. 137 Cs specific activities in soil were strongly correlated with organic matter content. 137 Cs in mosses was significantly higher in coniferous than in deciduous forests. 7 Be measured in moss samples was increasing with altitude. Concentrations of Ni, Cr, Cu and Zn exceeded regulatory limits in many soil samples from two mountains (Kopaonik and Rogozna). However, concentrations of elements in mosses were weakly correlated with those in soil.
... The presence of artificial radionuclide in soil is mostly due to atmospheric nuclear weapon testing (1945)(1946)(1947)(1948)(1949)(1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960)(1961)(1962)(1963), to a series of nuclear accidents, Windscale 1957, Kyštym 1957and Chernobyl, 1986(De Cort et al., 1998Mitrovic, Vitorovic, Vitorovic, Pantelic, & Adamovic, 2009), or as a consequence of natural disasters (Fukushima 2011); from soil they can be transferred to vegetables and to the milk through the grass-cow pathway; in these ways they arrive to animal and finally to man (El Mestikou, Jemii, Mazouz, Benal, & Ghedira, 2018). Among them, 137 Cs is the most significant radioactive pollutant released in the environment; it is a beta-gamma emitting fission product with mediumlong half-life (30.17 years). ...
A set of measurements have been conducted to determine the activity-level of natural and artificial radionuclides in some baby foods commercialized in Italy. The measurements have been carried out using liquid scintillation, gamma, alpha and mass spectrometry. The activity concentrations ranged from 0.005 to 0.238, from 0.0082 to 1.65, from 0.0003 to 0.015 and from <13.6 to 233.3 Bq kg⁻¹ for ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K respectively, whereas they are below the detection limit for ¹³⁷Cs and ²²⁶Ra. The annual effective dose due to intake of ²¹⁰Po, ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K ranged from 280 and 800 μSv y⁻¹ for infant 1 year old. These values lie well within the typical worldwide range of dose due to the ingestion of all natural radiation reported by UNSCEAR and they are below the internationally recommended level. This indicates that the baby food available in Italy would not pose any significant radiological impact to infant.
... Plants with an ability to accumulate high concentrations of radionuclides have a potential to act as biomonitors and thus help to identify areas of radiation risk. A number of studies have shown that mosses, lichens and mushrooms are typical representatives of bioindicator plants for radionuclides present in the environment (Delfanti et al., 1999;Grdovi c et al., 2010;Mitrovi c et al., 2009;Steinnes and Njåstad, 1993;UNSCEAR, 2008). Mosses have some advantages compared to other bioindicator species: their accumulating capacity is higher than of other plants (Elstner et al., 1987); their ability to indicate quality of the air, water and soil, based on their presence, absence or floristic composition, is an important characteristic in facilitating their role as bioindicators of radioactive contamination (Grdovi c et al., 2010); and mosses entrap airborne particulates, both passively and actively, through an extra cellular ion-exchange (Knight et al., 1961). ...
... The counting time for grass, herbal plants and moss, as well as for background, was 250,000 s. The measurements were performed according to a procedure described in our previous works (Mitrovi c et al., 2009;2015). ...
To evaluate the state of the environment in Kopaonik, a mountain in Serbia, the activity concentrations of 4 K, 226Ra, 232Th and 137Cs in five different types of environmental samples are determined by gamma ray spectrometry, and radiological hazard due to terrestrial radionuclides is calculated. The mean activity concentrations of natural radionuclides in the soil are higher than the global average. However, with an exception of two sampling locations, the external radiation hazard index is below one, implying an insignificant radiation hazard. Apart from 40K, content of the natural radionuclides is predominantly below minimum detectable activities in grass and cow milk, but not in mosses. Although 137Cs is present in the soil, grass, mosses and herbal plants, its specific activity in cow milk is below minimum detectable activity. Amongst the investigated herbal plants, Vaccinium myrtillus L. shows accumulating properties, as a high content of 137Cs is detected therein. Therefore, moderation is advised in consuming Vaccinium myrtillus L. tea.
