442 TRANS URANIC ELEMENTS IN THE ENVIRONMENT 



concentration of potassium, the chemical analog of cesium, and other nutrients; (2) the 

 arctic climate, which enhances food intake by the native animals; (3) the simple and 

 direct food webs that are clearly defined; and (4) the few interfering factors that expedite 

 evaluation of small changes over a sufficient time span. 



This chapter summarizes information on '^^Cs and plutonium isotopes which was 

 gathered as a part of mtensive studies of worldwide fallout in soils, lichens, and animal 

 samples from northern Alaska during the period 1969 to 1976. Soil and lichen samples 

 from Thule, Greenland, were obtained during participation in Danish expeditions of 1968 

 and 1974 which investigated ecological consequences of plutonium that had been released 

 to those environs by the nonnuclear explosion of four unarmed nuclear weapons during 

 the crash of a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber on Jan. 21, 1968 (Aarkrog, 1971a; 1971b; 

 1977; Hanson, 1971 ; 1972; 1975). Results from these studies were compared with results 

 from radiological studies of plutonium isotopes in the Scandinavian lichen-reindeer— 

 Lapp food web. 



Most of the data are from studies centered at the inland Eskimo village of Anaktuvuk 

 Pass, located in the central Brooks Range (Fig. 1), where annual precipitation is about 

 20 cm. Soil samples were collected from undisturbed locations at Settles, some 125 km 

 south of Anaktuvuk Pass, with annual precipitation of about 32 cm, and from Fairbanks, 

 about 480 km southeast of Anaktuvuk Pass, with annual precipitation of 28 cm. 



ARCTIC yv. OCEAN 



GULF OF ALASKA 



Fig. 1 Map of northern Alaska showing samphng locations. 



