Distribution of radionuclides in surface soils, Singhbhum Shear Zone, India and associated dose.

Patra, A.; Sahoo, S.; Tripathi, R.; Puranik, V.

Gamma emitters were estimated in surface soils from a mineralized zone in Eastern India using high purity Germanium detector-based high resolution gamma spectrometry system. Activities of U, Ra, Th, U, Th, Pa, Pb, K, and Cs were 79 ± 50, 81 ± 53, 65 ± 23, 4 ± 2, 5 ± 4, 92 ± 50, 97 ± 45, 517 ± 201, and 4 ± 2 Bq/kg, respectively. Most radionuclides were observed to follow log-normal distribution. The correlation between physicochemical properties of the samples, like pH, organic matter content, particle size, and moisture content were also studied. Activity ratios of Ra/U, Pb/Ra, and Th/U indicated deviation from secular equilibrium in some samples. The associated annual effective dose ranged from 0.07 to 0.24 mSv and the mean was calculated to be 0.12 ± 0.04 mSv for this region, indicating it to be one of normal natural background radiation.

RADIOISOTOPES; RADIOACTIVE substances; SPECTROMETRY; WAVELENGTH measurement; SOIL science

Environmental Monitoring & Assessment, 2013, Vol 185, Issue 9, p7833

0167-6369

Academic Journal

10.1007/s10661-013-3138-y