Impact of soil erosion potential uncertainties on numerical simulations of the environmental fate of radiocesium in the Abukuma River basin

Ikenoue, Tsubasa  ; Shimadera, Hikari*; Kondo, Akira*

This study focused on the uncertainty of the factors of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and evaluated its impacts on the environmental fate of Cs simulated by a radiocesium transport model in the Abukuma River basin. The USLE has five physically meaningful factors: the rainfall and runoff factor (R), soil erodibility factor (K), topographic factor (LS), cover and management factor (C), and support practice factor (P). The simulation results showed total suspended sediment and Cs outflows were the most sensitive to C and P among the all factors. Therefore, land cover and soil erosion prevention act have the great impact on outflow of suspended sediment and Cs. Focusing on land use, the outflow rates of Cs from the forest areas, croplands, and undisturbed paddy fields were large. This study indicates that land use, especially forest areas, croplands, and undisturbed paddy fields, has a significant impact on the environmental fate of Cs.