Abstract
Activity concentrations of radionuclides 40K, 228Ra, 226Ra, 238U and Th232 and gross alpha and beta activities were analyzed in more than 100 samples of groundwater in Serbia. The highest gross alpha activity was recorded at 1.33 Bq/L (average 0.12 Bq/L), while the highest beta activity was 5.43 Bq/L (average 0.68 Bq/L). The potassium isotope 40K exhibited the highest active concentration (2.6 Bq/L) and was the largest contributor to the gross natural beta activity. Among the analyzed samples, 28 were found to have elevated beta activity concentrations, of which five samples also measured elevated alpha activity. All the groundwater samples that exhibited elevated radioactivity were of the HCO3-Na type and were genetically associated with granitic rocks. Their TDS levels and CO2 gas concentrations were also elevated.
Highlights
The discovery of radioactivity and its impacts was a turning point in the evolution of geological sciences and largely affected the development of geochemistry, including isotope geochemistry, and geochronology that plays an important role in terrestrial geology
Some radionuclides can migrate in water, depending on the mineralogical and geochemical composition of the soil and rock, redox conditions and the residence time of ground water in the soil and bedrock, as result of Numerous radioactive elements and isotopes occur in natural waters: uranium, radium, radon, while thorium is virtually absent because of its low mobility in geochemical systems where groundwater reservoirs develop (DANGIĆ 1995)
Chemical analyses were performed at the Hydrochemistry Lab of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Mi-The gross alpha and beta activities of groundwater ning and Geology to define hydrogeochemical condisamples and gamma spectrometry measurements of tions and determine groundwater types
Summary
The discovery of radioactivity and its impacts was a turning point in the evolution of geological sciences and largely affected the development of geochemistry, including isotope geochemistry, and geochronology that plays an important role in terrestrial geology. Some radionuclides can migrate in water, depending on the mineralogical and geochemical composition of the soil and rock, redox conditions and the residence time of ground water in the soil and bedrock, as result of Numerous radioactive elements and isotopes occur in natural waters: uranium, radium, radon (descendants of uranium and thorium), while thorium is virtually absent because of its low mobility in geochemical systems where groundwater reservoirs develop (DANGIĆ 1995).
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