M. Barrera

Dating of marine sediments and time evolution of heavy metal concentrations in the Bay of Cadiz, Spain

In this paper the time evolution of heavy metal concentration of Pb, Zn, Cd and Hg, in the sediments of the Bay of Cádiz (southwest of Spain) is studied during the past century, as a result of the industrial influence in the zone. The study has been performed using sedimentary profiles that have been extracted from the seabed. The measurement of 210Pb and 137Cs radionuclides has provided the dating of the sediment layers, up to a depth corresponding to the age of 115 years. The relative sedimentation rates obtained are around 0.2 cm/year. The 137Cs activity profile reflects the concentration of this radionuclide in the atmosphere and into aquatic systems during the second half of the twentieth century. This profile has been used to ratify the results provided by the 210Pb dating method.

Relationships between sea-bed radionuclide activities and some sedimentological variables.

Natural radionuclides (232Th, 226Ra, 40K) and 137Cs, coming from atmospheric radioactive fallout, have been measured in sea-bed sediments of the Bay of Cádiz (South Western Spain). In this report, multivariate analysis methods have been employed to study the relationships between the activities of the radionuclides and some sedimentological variables like granulometric facies, organic content and apparent density. The correlation functions found show that it is possible to determine, with a satisfactory degree of approximation, the granulometric facies of the sediments using only radiometric information.

A new method for gamma-efficiency calibration of voluminal samples in cylindrical geometry

Abstract In this paper, a new method for the gamma-efficiency calibration of voluminal sea-sediment samples in cylindrical geometry is proposed. The efficiency function can be written as the product of a water-matrix-sample efficiency in the same geometry and a correction factor, improved with regard to those used to date, dependent on the energy and the apparent density. The method has advantages such as its simplicity and speed and has been validated successfully in the energy range of 100–1500keV.

A NEW SUMMING-CORRECTION METHOD FOR GAMMA-EFFICIENCY CALIBRATION WITH MULTI-GAMMA-RAY RADIONUCLIDES

Abstract Coincidence-summing effects play an important role in HPGe spectrometry at low source-to-detector distances (usual arrangements when environmental samples have to be measured). Although these corrections are not important for environmental samples (less than 5%), they can be significant in the efficiency calibration with multi-gamma-ray radioisotopes as they have to be measured in the same geometry. In this paper we propose a new method for determining summing corrections which does not require other monoenergetic radioisotopes. Thus, a HPGe-detector-efficiency calibration can be performed with radionuclides emitting gamma rays in cascade, such as 152 Eu or 226 Ra. The method has been successfully validated.

Map on predicted deposition of Cs-137 in Spanish soils from geostatistical analyses.

The knowledge of the distribution of (137)Cs deposition over Spanish mainland soils along with the geographical, physical and morphological terrain information enable us to know the (137)Cs background content in soil. This could be useful as a tool in a hypothetical situation of an accident involving a radioactive discharge or in soil erosion studies. A Geographic Information System (GIS) would allow the gathering of all the mentioned information. In this work, gamma measurements of (137)Cs on 34 Spanish mainland soils, rainfall data taken from 778 weather stations, soil types and geographical and physical terrain information were input into a GIS. Geostatistical techniques were applied to interpolate values of (137)Cs activity at unsampled places, obtaining prediction maps of (137)Cs deposition. Up to now, geostatistical methods have been used to model spatial continuity of data. Through semivariance and cross-covariance functions the spatial correlation of such data can be studied and described. Ordinary and simple kriging techniques were carried out to map spatial patterns of (137)Cs deposition, and ordinary and simple co-kriging were used to improve the prediction map obtained through a second related variable: namely the rainfall. To choose the best prediction map of (137)Cs deposition, the spatial dependence of the variable, the correlation coefficient and the prediction errors were evaluated using the different models previously mentioned. The best result for (137)Cs deposition map was obtained when applying the co-kriging techniques.

Environmental impact of unleaded gasolines in the bay of Cádiz (Spain)

Given the strategic situation of the José León de Carranza bridge, which spans the Bay of Cádiz (in the SW of Spain) and carries very heavy motor traffic, together with knowledge of the currents and tidal flows in the zone, we have used a technique of radioactive dating of sediments to study the temporal evolution presented by contamination from lead in the sediment column. This has allowed us to observe the environmental impact, in terms of the concentration of Pb in the sea bed sediments, that has been produced in the zone by the introduction of unleaded gasolines as substitutes for traditional automobile fuels that employ organic forms of tetra methyl lead as an antidetonant agent in the fuel.

Precise determination of HPGe detector efficiency for gamma spectrometry measurements of environmental samples with variable geometry and density

Abstract A methodology to determine the full energy peak efficiency (FEPE) for precise gamma spectrometry measurements of environmental samples with high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, valid when this efficiency depends on the energy of the radiation E, the height of the cylindrical sample H, and its density ρ, is introduced. The methodology consists of an initial calibration as a function of E and H and the application of a self-attenuation factor, depending on the density of the sample ρ, in order to correct for the different attenuation of the generic sample in relation to the measured standard. The obtained efficiency can be used in the whole range of interest studied, E = 120–2000 keV, H = 1–5 cm, and ρ = 0.8–1.7 g/cm3, being its uncertainty below 5%. The efficiency has been checked by the measurement of standards, resulting in a good agreement between experimental and expected activities. The described methodology can be extended to similar situations when samples show geometric and compaction differences.