Consentration of beryllium-7 activity in local rain water – An alternative technique in Malaysian soil erosion study

Beryllium-7 is being increasingly accepted and used as a short-term tracer in soil erosion investigation. However, the potential of using this tracer has not been fully explored in Malaysia. Therefore, this investigation was conducted in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) to identify the activity of beryllium-7 in rain water. In total, 23 significant rainfall events from January to October 2011 were utilised as the study samples. Findings showed thatthe concentration of beryllium-7 in rain water was between low and moderate levels only with an average value of 0.89 Bq l-1. The factor of total rainfall was moderately significant in affecting beryllium-7 activity in rain water. This meant that radionuclide of beryllium-7 could be used potentially as a tracer in the investigation of soil erosion especially when the total rainfall for each rainfall event was capable of accumulating beryllium-7 atoms with suspended particles in the atmosphere.