Baseline study on radiological and mineralogical investigations of heavy mineral depositions on the south –west coast of India

AbstractPristine depositions of beach sediments containing heavy minerals (HM) along the shorelines of Mangalore, south –west coast of India is reported in the study. Primordial radionuclide concentrations in the beach sediments collected were determined by high purity germanium (HPGe) gamma spectrometry method. The mineral identification and counting were performed using polarizing microscope. Geometric mean value s (GM) [Geometric Standard Deviation (GSD)] of concentrations of40K,232Th and226Ra are obtained to be 139 (2), 482 (5) and 110 (4) Bq  kg−1 respectively and total heavy mineral weight percentage (TM%) of Monazite, Zircon, Ilmenite and Lithic fragments are obtained to be 0.17 (3.5), 0.51 (2.9), 5.3 (3.2) and 2.3 (2.5)% respectively. Seasonal variation studies and statistical analysis of the data are also performed to examine correlations between the origins of the radionuclides and elevated percentage of HM  in these sediment depositions.
Source: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Category: Nuclear Medicine Source Type: research