Kyshtym Disaster Zone: Scots Pine Morphology and Radiation Effects

Vera N. Pozolotina's dataset documents morphological abnormalities in young Scots pine trees within the East Ural Radioactive Trace, the contamination zone from the 1957 Kyshtym nuclear disaster. It records observed abnormalities, linking them to a gradient of current radiation doses (0.56–16.51 mGy/year) and specific biogenic factors like fungal infections and pest damage. The analysis distinguishes between effects likely caused by direct radiation action and those resulting from indirect stimulation of biological processes.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between radiation dose gradients and tree morphosis frequency.
• Assessing the combined impact of chronic radiation and specific fungal infections (e.g., Cronartium pini) on pine health.
• Comparing indirect radiation effects (e.g., multi-toppedness) against direct effects (e.g., needle shape abnormalities).
• Benchmarking post-accident forest recovery in the Kyshtym zone against other nuclear disaster sites like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Strengths

• Provides specific, measured annual radiation dose ranges for impact and buffer zones (2.69–16.51 mGy/year and 0.56–1.48 mGy/year).
• Distinguishes between direct and indirect causes of morphological abnormalities, linking them to concrete biological agents and radiation.
• Dataset is openly licensed (CC-BY-4.0) and available on a major research data platform (figshare).

Limitations

• Column names and the exact row count are not provided, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• The temporal coverage for the tree observations is not explicitly stated, only the accident date (1957) and a future 'last updated' metadata date (2026-03-20).
• Documentation is incomplete, as the description from figshare is truncated mid-sentence.

Provenance

Source

Research by Vera N. Pozolotina.

Collection Method

Field study conducted across a gradient of radioactive contamination in the East Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT).

Time Range

Post-1957 (after the Kyshtym disaster); specific study years not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-20 13:34:30

Geography

East Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT), Russia, formed by the 1957 Kyshtym disaster.