RESUMEN
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.
Asunto(s)
Lagos/química , Radioisótopos/análisis , Agua de Mar/química , Contaminantes Radiactivos del Agua/análisis , Análisis por Conglomerados , Egipto , Sedimentos Geológicos/análisis , Plantas/química , Monitoreo de Radiación/estadística & datos numéricos , SalinidadRESUMEN
The radioactivity levels are poorly studied in non-coastal arid regions. For this reason, 38 locations covering an area of about 350 km(2) in northeast Sinai, Egypt, were investigated by γ-ray spectroscopy. Moderately significant correlations among (238)U, (234)Th, and (226)Ra isotopes and low significant correlations between the concentrations of (238)U-series and (232)Th in sand were obtained. No evidence of correlation was found between the concentrations of radioisotopes and pH, grain size, total organic matter content, bicarbonate or calcium carbonate concentrations of the sand samples. The mean values of soil-to-plant transfer factor were 0.15, 0.18, 1.52 and 0.74 for (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K, and (137)Cs, respectively. The range of concentrations of (226)Ra,( 232)Th, and (40)K in water samples collected from five wells were<0.4-0.16,<0.4-0.13, and<0.15-1.62 Bq l(-1), respectively. The mean absorbed dose rate in outdoor air at a height of 1 m above the ground surface for the sand samples was 19.4 nGy h(-1). The Ra(eq) activities of the sands are lower than the recommended maximum value of 370 Bq kg(-1) criterion limit for building materials.