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Reliable information on environmental radionuclides atmospheric entrance, and their distribution along the soil profile, is a necessary condition for using these soil and sediment tracers to investigate key environmental processes. To address this need, Be-7 content in rainwater and the wet deposition in a semiarid region at San Luis Province, Argentina, were studied. Following these researches, in the same region, we have assessed the Be-7 content along a soil profile, during 2.5 years from September 2009 to January 2012. As expected, the specific activity values in soil samples in the wet period (November-April) were higher than in the dry period (May-October). During the investigated period (2009 - beginning 2012) and for all sampled points, the maximum value of the Be-7 specific activity (Bq kg(-1)) was measured at the surface level. A typical decreasing exponential function of Be-7 areal activity (Bq m(-2)) with soil mass depth (kg m(-2)) was found and the key distribution parameters were determined for each month. The minimum value of areal activity was 51 Bq m(-2) in August, and the maximum was 438 Bq m(-2) in February. The relaxation mass depth ranges from 2.9 kg m(-2) in March to 1.3 kg m(-2) in August. Be-7 wet deposition can explain in a very significant proportion the Be-7 inventory in soil. During the period of winds in the region (September and October), the Be-7 content in soil was greater than the expected contribution from wet deposition, situation that is compatible with a higher relative contribution of dry deposition at this period of the year. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.