Correlation between soil gas radon concentrations and terrestrial radioactivity (U-238 and Th-232) in Afyonkarahisar

Abstract

Humansare exposed both to natural radiation from the radioactive elements that haveexisted in the earth's crust since the formation of the earth and to artificialradiation from medical applications and sparrows after nuclear tests. The mostimportant part in natural radiation affecting human beings is radon derivedfrom terrestrial radioactive elements of Uranium and Thorium. Terrestrialradiation level is strictly related to the contents of Thorium (232Th),Uranium (238U) and Potassium (40K) in rocks which is theorigin of the soil in an area, and to the geological composition of the area.Thedetermination of natural background radiation levels is of great importance forall living things. In order to determine whether the living zone is healthy interms of natural radiation, the concentrations of the radionuclides in thesurrounding environment and the effects of radiation on all the living thingsmust be known. In this study, it was aimed to determine the terrestrialbackground radiation level on the soil surface, and to evaluate the correlationbetween the Uranium and Thorium concentrations and the soil gas radon activityvalues in Afyonkarahisar city center.