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Land Surface Erosion and Rainfall as Sources of Strontium-90 in Streams¹

ABSTRACT

Strontium-90 concentrations in streams from 1958 to 1967 reflected the changing concentrations in rainfall and accumulation on the land surface. Correlation analysis of data from nationwide sampling networks shows that the ⁹⁰Sr concentration in streams was accounted for, on the average, by 1.7% of the rainout 2 months earlier, and annual erosion of 0.58% of the accumulated ⁹⁰Sr on the land surface. Direct runoff of ⁹⁰Sr in preceding rainfall was highest, 2.0 to 2.2%, in the north central and eastern United States, ranging down to no measurable direct runoff in the southwestern United States. Annual erosion of ⁹⁰Sr from the land surface ranged from 0.75% in the Ohio River Basin to 0.17% in the Missouri River Basin. If one allows for differences in time and area of application, these results for land surface erosion indicate the potential movement of persistent, strongly adsorbed pesticides from large land areas.

Key Words: radioactive fallout • regression analysis • runoff

¹ Contribution from the Water Quality Management Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Durant, Okla. 74701.

² Laboratory Director.

Received for publication August 27, 1973.