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Natural Radionuclides in Cultivated and Virgin soil of the Same Origin Using NaI Gamma-ray Spectrometer and the Potential Phosphate Fertilizers Impacts |
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PP: 21- 29 |
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doi:10.18576/jrna/060104
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Author(s) |
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Abdelazeem Sh. Sallam,
Yasser Y. Ebaid,
Khater A. E. M.,
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Abstract |
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| Soil samples were collected from an arid environment in the central region of Saudi Arabia, 28 samples from selected 14 locations within an agricultural farm (300 km2 area). Two composite samples, cultivated (C) and virgin (V) soils, of the same origin were collected from each location. This work aims to evaluate the long term (25 years) impacts of various agricultural practices on the activity concentration of some naturally occurring radionuclides (NOR) and some of soil’s chemo-physical parameters. The activity concentration, in Bq/kg, of 226Ra (238U series), 228Ra (232Th series) and 40K were measured using well calibrated gamma-ray spectrometer based on NaI (Tl) detector. The soil physical and chemical properties [e.g. pH, EC, particle size distribution (clay, silt and sand percentages), CaCO3 %, soluble cations (Ca, Mg, Na and K) and soluble anions (CO3, HCO3, Cl and SO4)] were determined. The radium equivalent activity, in Bq/kg was calculated. Generally, there were no noticeable changes that could be related to agricultural practices and/or strong correlations between natural radionuclide and soil’s chemo-physical parameters. That could be due to the sandy nature of the soil, the applied agricultural practices, and the effects of adsorption-filtration processes on the behavior and the distribution pattern of NOR in arid environment. Therefore, the environmental impacts of different man-made activities on underground resources should be carefully considered due to the possible filtration behavior of different pollutants in dry-land environment. |
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