title: Natural radioactivity level in beach sand along the coast of Xiamen Island, China.
abstract: The activity concentration of (40)K, (232)Th and (226)Ra was determined in beach sand samples collected from Xiamen Island, China using gamma ray spectrometry. The activity concentrations of (40)K, (232)Th and (226)Ra in the beach sand range from 197.4 to 487.6, 6.5 to 41.4 and 7.9 to 25.7 Bq kg(-1) with the mean of 401.0, 11.3 and 14.1 Bq kg(-1), respectively, which are lower than the averages of Chinese soil and world soil. The radium equivalent activity values in all beach sand samples are lower than the recommended limit of 370 Bq kg(-1). The external hazard index values are less than unity. The outdoor air absorbed dose rate and the corresponding annual effective dose rate of beach sand investigated are lower than the worldwide average.
authors.affiliation: School of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, PR China.
authors.forename: Yingnan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, PR China. Electronic address: luxinwei@snnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xinwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: School of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, PR China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Feng
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D001493:Bathing Beaches / Q000592:standards*; D002681:China; D062312:Islands; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D013910:Thorium; D011883:Radium
keywords: Coast; Gamma ray spectrometry; Natural radioactivity; Radiation hazard; Sand