Land degradation assessment using fallout cesium-137 in a coastal Mediterranean environment (Ténès, Algeria)

• Published in: Euro-Mediterranean journal for environmental integration Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 55 - 65
• Main Authors: Azbouche, Ahmed, Kessaissia, Abderrahmane, Hamoudi, Abdelkrim, Morsli, Boutkhil, Moulla, Adnane S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.03.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agriculture; Aquatic Pollution; Arid environments; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Cereals; Cesium; Cesium 137; Cesium radioisotopes; Climate change; Degradation; Deposition; Desertification; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Management; Environmental Science and Engineering; Erosion rates; Fallout; Forest & brush fires; Forests; Investigations; Land degradation; Original Paper; Radioisotopes; Runoff; Sediments; Semi arid environments; Semiarid environments; Soil conservation; Soil dynamics; Soil erosion; Soil investigations; Vegetation; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Watersheds; Morocco; Tunisia; Algeria; Cesium-137 fallout inventory; Algeria; Sparsely treed forest; Conversion models; Burnt forest; Coastal Mediterranean site
• ISSN: 2365-6433; 2365-7448
• DOI: 10.1007/s41207-023-00351-9

Algerian soil is exposed to intense soil erosion due to several factors, mainly natural and human. In the present work, the assessment of soil erosion–deposition processes in a forest area using the fallout radionuclide cesium-137 is proposed. The Cs-137 technique, which is used for investigating rates and patterns of soil erosion, has been successfully applied in a wide range of environments. This radionuclide is known to strongly adhere to soil particles and therefore can be used as a tracer in soil movement investigations. Three different sites were selected for this study, namely a forest site, a burnt forest site and an agricultural one, all located in a Mediterranean area near Ténès (North-Central Algeria). The results showed that the agricultural site is characterized by the highest decrease in cesium-137 activity and is then the most exposed to soil erosion. Cesium-137 activity in the reference site is about 2842 Bq·m −2 . It varies from 2288 to 4464 Bq·m −2 in the burnt site, from 1951 to 3440 Bq·m −2 in the forest site, and from 1359 to 2448 Bq·m −2 in the agricultural site. Results showed that the erosion rate reaches a maximum value of 39 t·ha −1 ·yr −1 in the agricultural site, 9.92 t·ha −1 ·yr −1 in the forest site, and 5.63 t·ha -1 ·yr −1 in the burnt site, whereas the highest deposition rate is about ~16 t·ha −1 ·yr −1 both in the burnt site and in the forest site. Such results contribute to a better understanding of land degradation processes and are of great assistance to rural engineers and local authorities in charge of the implementation of soil conservation measures, especially in such a semi-arid environment where combating desertification is a crucial issue.