Effect of a quenching medium (water, liquid nitrogen and block of brass) on a distribution of Cr atoms in the surface zone of Fe100-xCrx (x <= 19) alloys was studied with the Mossbauer spectroscopy. The distribution of Cr atoms was expressed in terms of the Cowley-Warren short-range order (SRO) parameters: for the first neighbor-shell, for the second neighbor-shell and for both neighbor-shells. It was revealed that none of the quenching media resulted in a random distribution of atoms, yet the degree of randomness was the highest for the samples quenched onto the block of brass. The quenching into water and liquid nitrogen caused a partial oxidation of samples' surface accompanied by a chromium depletion of the bulk. Quantitative analysis of various phases in the studied samples both in their bulk as well as in pre surface zones was carried out. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.