Gamma-ray spectrometry sensor and geochemical prospecting in an area of sugar cane plantation

• Autor(a) principal: Becegato,Valter Antonio
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Ferreira,Francisco José Fonseca, Cabral,João Batista Pereira, Rafaelli Neto,Sílvio Luis
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132008000100001
• topic: Fertilizers; soils; radionuclides; gamma-ray spectrometry

In this study the K, U and Th radionuclide concentrations were determined in a sugar cane plantation that received large quantities of fertilizer and gypsum. Geochemical data were obtained for the clay, iron and organic matter in the soil samples, taken from depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm. The average radionuclide concentrations were 71 Bq Kg-1 for K; 5.97 Bq Kg-1 for U, and 11.26 Bq Kg-1 for Th, and the uranium was variable (56%). The radionuclide average concentrations for the different fertilizer compositions varied in the range of 603.5 - 8855.0 Bq Kg-1 for K; 27.3 - 684.4 Bq Kg-1 for U, and 58 - 788.5 Bq Kg-1 for Th, and it was most variable for K (53%). Gypsum average concentrations were 82.6 Bq Kg-1 for K, 641.5 Bq Kg-1 for U, and 201.7 Bq Kg-1 for Th, and it was most variable for K (46%). Average organic matter, clay and iron concentrations for both the depths were 0.71 and 0.68 %; 16.2 and 16.9 %, and 29.0 and 26.8 mg/l respectively.