Marine gradients of halogens in soil studied by epithermal neutron activation analysis

Epithermal neutron activation analysis is shown to be a powerful technique for the simultaneous determination of chlorine, bromine and iodine in organic-rich soils. Examples are shown from a transect study in northern Norway where samples of surface soil were collected at distances of 0-300 km from the coastline. All three elements decreased exponentially as a function of distance from the ocean, strongly indicating that atmospheric supply from the marine environment is the predominant source of these elements in the soil. The Cl/Br and Br/I ratios also showed a regular change with distance from the ocean, and hypotheses for this behavior are offered.