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Abstract
Researches on environmental radioactivity in the Ross Sea — Terra Nova Bay area have been carried out with the aim of evaluating the role of different abiotic and biotic matrices in the cycling of radio-nuclides in the marine and lacustrine ecosystems. The transfer of Sr-90, Cs-137, Pu-238 and Pu-239(240) from the water to the benthic organisms and the sediment layer has been investigated. Contamination levels in both ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles of the main fission and transuranic products are therefore presented and discussed. A comparison of radioecological data from different areas of the Antarctic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea is given. In the framework of the data obtained, concentrations of the natural radionuclides K-40, Th-232 and U-238 in the sediment samples, are also presented.