title: Distribution of naturally occurring radioactivity and ¹³⁷Cs in the marine sediment of Farasan Island, southern Red Sea, Saudi Arabia.
abstract: The present work is a part of a project dedicated to measure the marine radioactivity near the Saudi Arabian coasts of the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf for establishing a marine radioactivity database, which includes necessary information on the background levels of both naturally occurring and man-made radionuclides in the marine environment. Farasan Islands is a group of 84 islands (archipelago), under the administration of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the Red Sea with its main island of Farasan, which is 50 km off the coast of Jazan City. The levels of natural radioactivity of (238)U, (235)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K and man-made radionuclides such as (137)Cs in the grab sediment and water samples around Farasan Island have been measured using gamma-ray spectroscopy. The average activity concentrations of (238)U, (235)U, (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs in the sediment samples were found to be 35.46, 1.75, 3.31, 0.92, 34.34 and 0.14 Bq kg(-1), respectively.
authors.affiliation: Atomic Energy Research Institute, King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology , PO BOX 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia. azahrany@kacst.edu.sa
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al-Zahrany
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Farouk
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Al-Yousef
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002586:Cesium / Q000032:analysis; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005720:Gamma Rays; D005843:Geography; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D019156:Indian Ocean; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011851:Radioactivity; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D012984:Software; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D002586:Cesium; D014501:Uranium; D013910:Thorium; D011886:Radon; D011883:Radium