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Although fallout radionuclides, and more particularly 137Cs and unsupported 210Pb have been widely used for establishing the chronology of recent sediments, their potential for use in soil erosion investigations has attracted much less attention. However, the growing need for information on the intensity of soil erosion in many areas of the world in recent years has stimulated increasing interest in the use of 137Cs measurements to estimate the rates and patterns of soil redistribution. The validity and value of this approach has now been demonstrated by numerous studies in a wide variety of environments, but scope clearly exists for refining, developing and standardizing the procedures used, and for exploring additional applications. Other fallout radionuclides, including unsupported 210Pb and 7Be, have attracted much less attention, but there is increasing evidence that they again offer considerable potential for use in soil erosion investigations, both in their own right and as a complement to 137Cs Further work to explore and exploit this potential is clearly required.
The assistance of a number of colleagues, including Qingping He, J. Grapes and Yusheng Zhang, in the studies described in this paper and the support of the UK Natural Environment Research Council and Overseas Development Administration for work on the application of fallout radionuclides in soil erosion studies are gratefully acknowledged.