NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIONUCLIDES AND THEIR RADIOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN RIVER SEDIMENTS FROM THE DITRAU ALKALINE MASSIF, Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences February 2024, Vol. 19, No. 1, p. 135 – 146; DOI:10.26471/cjees/2024/019/285 - Carpathian Journal of Earth And Environmental Sciences

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Valentin Nicolae COȚAC¹*, Ovidiu Gabriel IANCU¹, Nicușor NECULA^2,3, Marius Cristian SANDU¹, Aurelia Andreea LOGHIN^1,4Adriana ION, & Sergiu LOGHIN¹

¹Department of Geology, “Al. I. Cuza” University, 20A Carol I Blv., 700505, Iași, România, cotacvalentin@gmail.com, ogiancu@uaic.ro, cristi2sandu@yahoo.com, scarlataureliaandreea@yahoo.com.

²Tulnici Research Station, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, Iași, Romania, neculanicusor93@gmail.com.

³Department of Geography, Faculty of Geography and Geology, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași, Romania.

⁴Interdisciplinary research laboratories in the geochemistry of rural areas, RA-07, Mădârjac Station for Geographic research and Environmental quality monitoring, Iasi, „Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, Iași, Romania.

⁵Geological Institute of Romania, Radiometry Laboratory, Bucharest, Romania, adi75riana@yahoo.com

*Corresponding author cotacvalentin@gmail.com.

NATURALLY OCCURRING RADIONUCLIDES AND THEIR RADIOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT IN RIVER SEDIMENTS FROM THE DITRAU ALKALINE MASSIF, Carpathian Journal of Earth and Environmental Sciences February 2024, Vol. 19, No. 1, p. 135 – 146; DOI:10.26471/cjees/2024/019/285

Full text

Naturally occurring ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K radionuclides within river bed sediments of Jolotca and Ditrău rivers from Ditrău Alkaline Massif (DAM) and their environmental risk and spatial distribution have been analyzed. The DAM metamorphic formations have been the subject of multiple studies due to their structure and high variety of mineral species. This led to the execution of many mining operations. River bed sediment samples have been collected from two of the main drainage basins of DAM, Ditrău and Jolotca rivers. The samples were analyzed using gamma-ray spectrometry in order to determine the concentration of the naturally occurring radionuclides and the risk parameters such as RLI (Representative level index), AGDE (Annual gonadal dose equivalent), Hex (External hazard index), Hin (Internal hazard index) and D_R (absorbed gamma dose rates in air). ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K show values higher than the Upper Continental Crust (UCC) and other studies from around the world. D_R, AGDE and RLI are higher than the global average and the safe limits. These values are a consequence of the geological context which determined the presence of heavy minerals and Th and U bearing minerals.