title: 238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Iran.
abstract: The determination of activity concentrations of the radioactive elements (238)U, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs was performed on grab samples taken from a polluted environment. The samples were sliced into strata from 5 cm depth, dried and ground to sieved through a 170 mesh size prior to the analysis. Activity concentration was quantified using gamma spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentrations of activity in the sediment samples are 177+/-12.4, 117+/-11.5, 1085+/-101.6 and 131+/-4.8 Bq kg(-1) for (238)U, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs, respectively. In general, the distribution of activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea area exceeded international limits. The hazard index of the samples was 0.19-0.88, with an average of 0.49. The mean values of radium equivalent activity and dose rate are 176 Bq kg(-1) and 63 nGy h(-1), respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746-73441, Iran. r.abdi@phys.ui.ac.ir
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Abdi
authors.forename: Smaeyl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamali
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Raji
mesh_terms: D004603:Elements, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis*; D007492:Iran; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004603:Elements, Radioactive; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive