Temporal changes in concentration of radiocaesium in lake sediment and fish of southern Finland as related to environmental factors.

In 1992 the concentration of radiocaesium in the surface layer of bottom sediment of 52 lakes of southern Finland was found to have declined on average to 27.4% of 1987-88 levels and to 25.7, 28.0 and 38.6% of 1988 levels in the tissues of perch, pike and roach, respectively. The sediment radiocaesium concentration was higher in larger lakes and in lakes having a large catchment, but lower in oligotrophic than eutrophic lakes, when the total amount of electrolytes and organic matter was high. The concentration of radiocaesium in perch and pike was lower in eutrophic than oligotrophic lakes and lower in all three fish species when the concentration of electrolytes was high. Lower radiocaesium values in both sediments and fish of eutrophic when compared with oligotrophic lakes may be due to a greater dilution of this contaminant into a higher biomass. Water colour and pH were negatively correlated with radiocaesium in perch only. A lower radiocaesium level in perch in humic water lakes may be due to an adsorption of radiocaesium onto humus particles which reduces its bioavailability and transfer along the food chain. Radiocaesium in fish and in sediment were positively correlated with each other for perch and roach whose diets comprise mainly the detritivore or sediment feeding bottom animals. In perch the radiocaesium concentration was high when the water retention time of the lake was long. A tropic level bioconcentration was evident in the threefold higher radiocaesium level in predatory pike compared with roach. The decline in radiocaesium was most pronounced in sediment when the catchment area was large, when the water pH was high and when the sediment surface contained a low proportion of organic matter. In fish the largest decline in radiocaesium was recorded in pike from eutrophic or shallow lakes and when the lake water retention time was short. In perch and roach the reduced radiocaesium levels were not due to effects of water quality or lake morphometrical properties. Two different sediment core samplers, a Kajak corer and a Limnos corer, gave comparable results.