Using γγ-Coincidence Spectroscopy to Identify Natural Radiation in Soils Near the Mississippi River

Abstract: Naturally radioactive nuclides present in soils contain background radiation that humans are exposed to every day. Previous research suggests that there are high background radiation areas (HBRAs) caused by climate, geography, wind, and
water currents that accumulate a higher concentration of these radionuclides. An investigation of the Nile Delta confirms the presence of minerals rich in U and Th from monazite and zircon, further suggesting that certain locations have a higher
concentration of these radionuclides. The present work is a search for monazite in Great River Road State Park, near the Mississippi River. The acquired samples were measured with a low-background NaI(Tl) spectrometer and digital data acquisition
system. Using γγ-coincidence spectroscopy to reduce background radiation, we were able to apply coincidence gates of known gamma-ray energies originating from 238U and 232Th decay chains to identify the presence of the radionuclides in the soil samples. From our results, we confirmed that there is an accumulation of minerals containing 238U and 232Th near the river. Our next steps will focus on calculating activities for quantitative results and collecting samples from an extended region along the river.

Author Credentials:
Pranjal Singh,^{1, a)} Daniel Valmassei,¹ Anthony Kuchera,¹ and Ben Crider²

1) Department of Physics, Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina 28035, USA
2) Department of Physics and Astronomy, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, USA
a) Corresponding author: prsingh@davidson.edu