Natural radionuclide concentrations in soil, water, sediment and biota in England and Wales

Data comprise estimates of activity concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides (40K, 238U and 232Th series radionuclides) in environmental media (soil and stream sediments and waters) and non-human biota (focusing on the ICRP Reference Animals and Plants). For soil, stream sediments and stream waters data were derived from total K, U and Th concentrations mainly from the ongoing geochemical survey of the United Kingdom (G-BASE), conducted by the British Geological Survey. The geochemical survey data are currently incomplete for England and Wales, but almost complete coverage was obtained for K in stream sediments by using the Wolfson Atlas data for southern England. For U and Th in sediments and K, U and Th in soils, more complete coverage was achieved by geological extrapolation (using relationships between soils/sediments and bedrock/superficial geology). For media and sediments, datasets are provided for both: (i) geometric mean concentrations from measured samples on a 5 x 5 km square basis where data are available; and (ii) extrapolated surfaces covering all of England and Wales. Data for non-human biota are from targeted sampling and analyses and data review.

本数据集包含环境介质（土壤、河流沉积物与水体）及非人类生物（重点聚焦国际放射防护委员会（International Commission on Radiological Protection, ICRP）参考动植物）中天然放射性核素（⁴⁰K、²³⁸U及²³²Th系列核素）的活度浓度估算值。其中，土壤、河流沉积物及河流水体的相关数据，主要取自英国地质调查局正在实施的英国地球化学调查（G-BASE）项目所获取的总钾、铀、钍浓度数据。目前该地球化学调查数据在英格兰与威尔士地区仍存在不完备之处，但针对英格兰南部的河流沉积物钾元素数据，已通过沃尔夫森地图集（Wolfson Atlas）的数据实现了近乎全覆盖的补充。对于沉积物中的铀、钍以及土壤中的钾、铀、钍数据，则通过地质外推法（依托土壤/沉积物与基岩/表层地质之间的关联关系）实现了更完整的覆盖。针对环境介质与沉积物，本数据集同时提供两类数据：(i) 针对存在实测数据的5×5km网格单元，基于实测样本计算得到的几何平均浓度；(ii) 覆盖英格兰与威尔士全境的外推浓度曲面。非人类生物相关数据则源自针对性采样分析与数据综述。