During the last decades, a general increase in heavy rainfall events has caused changes in soil erosion rates and strongly affected the human activities in mountain areas. In this context, plot experiments carried out in southern Italy that involve the use of ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_ex measurements indicated an increase in soil erosion rates during the last 15–20 years and suggest the use of this technique to detect climate change in mountain areas.

Quantifying soil redistribution rates is a global challenge. Radiogenic tracers such as plutonium, namely ^239+240Pu, released to the atmosphere by atmospheric bomb testing in the 1960s are promising tools to quantify soil redistribution. Direct validation of ^239+240Pu as soil redistribution is, however, still missing. Here, we used a unique sediment yield time series in southern Italy, reaching back to the initial fallout of ^239+240Pu to verify ^239+240Pu as a soil redistribution tracer.