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Instrumental neutron activation analysis of environmental samples from a region with prevalence of population disabilities in the North Gondar, Ethiopia

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Abstract

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of soil, coal, water, and crops from the village of Awdarda in the North Gondar, Ethiopia, where the residents suffer from various disabilities, was performed in an attempt to elucidate the existing health problems. More than forty elements were determined in the samples analyzed. Comparison of our results with literature values indicates highly elevated contents of terrigenous elements in Awdarda cereals, possibly due to contamination by excavation and indoor combustion of local coal-bearing sediments. Impact is discussed of the elevated aluminium and the rare earth elements levels in crops on the health problems.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Grant P108/12/G108 of the Czech Science Foundation. The authors thank I. Sýkorová for micropetrographic analysis of coal samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

    Teshager A. Bitewlign

  2. Department of Physics, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Teshager A. Bitewlign, Ashok K. Chaubey, Getaneh A. Beyene & Tamene H. Melikegnaw

  3. Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Husinec-Řež 130, Czech Republic

    Jiří Mizera, Jan Kameník, Ivana Krausová & Jan Kučera

  4. Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, V Holešovičkách 41, Prague, Czech Republic

    Jiří Mizera

Authors
  1. Teshager A. Bitewlign
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  2. Ashok K. Chaubey
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  3. Getaneh A. Beyene
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  4. Tamene H. Melikegnaw
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  5. Jiří Mizera
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  6. Jan Kameník
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  7. Ivana Krausová
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  8. Jan Kučera
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Correspondence to Jan Kučera.

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Bitewlign, T.A., Chaubey, A.K., Beyene, G.A. et al. Instrumental neutron activation analysis of environmental samples from a region with prevalence of population disabilities in the North Gondar, Ethiopia. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 311, 2047–2059 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5187-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-017-5187-0

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