Determination of Natural Radionuclides for Ground Shapes in Tar Al-Najaf , Iraq

Abstract

The natural radioactivity of the earth formations of Tar Al-Najaf region in Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf governorate has been studied , which is considered one of the most important archaeological areas in the province. As Tar Al-Najaf is one of the natural phenomena prominently present in the governorate, as it cuts sharply to form a rocky cliff, as well as overlooks from the southern end of a plateau Al-Najaf and on the sea of Al-Najaf, in a clear and surprising way, Al-Najaf flew, by selecting 30 sites to take soil samples from the region, and spectral measurements were made using gamma-ray spectroscopy (NaI(Tl)) . It was found that the specific activity  of ²³⁸U, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in the studied ranged between   to   with average   ,    to (8.356±1.013) with average (21.728) and (475.391 ± 7.870) to (95.173 ± 1.994)  with average (281.197) respectively. As per radium equivalent, it was between ( ) to (37.576) with average (68.678) , and the activity concentration index ranged between (0.756) to (0.272) with average  (0.510) ) , while the external hazard index ranged from (0.272)  to (0.101) , with rate (0.184) . Comparing the present results with the globally considered values, it was found that the radiation levels of the studied samples are within the permissible limits.