title: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RADIUM CONTENT AND RADON EXHALATION RATE FROM SOIL SAMPLES USING ACTIVE AND PASSIVE TECHNIQUES.
abstract: Soil is the most important factor affecting the radon level in the human living environments. It depends not only on uranium and thorium contents but also on the physical and chemical properties of the soil. In this paper, the measurements of radium content and mass exhalation rate of radon from the soil samples collected from Uttarkashi area of Garhwal Himalaya are presented. The correlation between radium content and radon mass exhalation rate from soil has also been obtained. The radium was measured by gamma ray spectrometry, while the mass exhalation rate of radon has been determined by both active and passive methods. The radium activity in the soil of study area was found to vary from 45±7 to 285±29 Bq kg-1with an average of 99 Bq kg-1The radon mass exhalation rate was found to vary from 0.59 × 10-5to 2.2 × 10-5Bq kg-1h-1with an average of 1.4 × 10-5Bq kg-1h-1by passive technique and from 0.8 × 10-5to 3.2 × 10-5Bq kg-1h-1with an average of 1.5 × 10-5Bq kg-1h-1by active technique. The results suggest that the measured radium value is positively correlated with the radon mass exhalation rate measured with both the active and passive techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Badshahi Thaul Campus, Tehri Garhwal 249 199, India.
authors.forename: Manjulata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yadav
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Badshahi Thaul Campus, Tehri Garhwal 249 199, India bijalwanmukesh111@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mukesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Badshahi Thaul Campus, Tehri Garhwal 249 199, India.
authors.forename: Veena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Govt. P.G. College, New Tehri, Tehri Garhwal 249 001, India.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Gusain
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Badshahi Thaul Campus, Tehri Garhwal 249 199, India.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ramola
mesh_terms: D001417:Background Radiation; D005843:Geography; D007194:India; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D011886:Radon / Q000032:analysis*; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma / Q000379:methods*; D013910:Thorium / Q000032:analysis*; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D014501:Uranium; D013910:Thorium; D011886:Radon; D011883:Radium