Effect of salinity on the concentrations of radioisotopes in the aquatic environment of a hypersaline coastal lagoon.
Research of the effect of salinity on the fate of radionuclides has been focused on seas or estuarine systems while there is almost no information on marine environments with a salinity higher than that of sea water. The hypersaline Bardawil lagoon is a concentration basin, with evaporation exceeding precipitation. This study presents the characteristics of some environmental factors including salinity and their influence on the distribution of natural and artificial radionuclides in different compartments of the lagoon. The concentrations of (238)U, (234)Th, (228)Ra and (137)Cs in sediments show some degree of dependency on the water's salinity. Migration of these radionuclides in the lagoon's sediments must take place from high salinity to low-salinity regions. Cluster analysis revealed the data structure for sediment by separating (137)Cs and (40)K from (232)Th, (226)Ra, and (234)Th and for sand by separating (40)K from the other radioisotopes.
a Physics Department, Faculty of Science , Tanta University , Tanta , Egypt.
Khaled A
KA
Ramadan
Mostafa K
MK
Seddeek
Taher
T
Sharshar
Tarek
T
Elnimr
Hussein M
HM
Badran
D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004534:Egypt; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000032:analysis; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D054712:Salinity; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
D011868:Radioisotopes; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive