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Distribution of uranium isotopes in groundwater of the UAE: environmental radioactivity assessment

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Abstract

Occurrence of uranium isotopes in groundwater provides a tracer technology for quality, sources, and recharge conditions. Groundwater samples collected from different aquifer types (sand dune, Quaternary clastics, ophiolite, carbonates and sabkha) in the UAE were analyzed for 238U and 235U. In addition to uranium isotopes, monitoring indicators also cover groundwater pH, temperature and TDS. The concentration of uranium isotopes (238U + 235U) range from 4 to 69,745 ng/L. The distribution of the isotopes in the groundwater of the UAE can be linked to aquifer lithological variability, distance from recharge front and seawater intrusion. In general, about 3% of the groundwater analyzed have uranium concentration above the WHO permissible limit for drinking water.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Hydraulic science, and technology in Hunan Province ([2017]230-36) and United Arab Emirate University through UPAR (31153). We also thank National Water Center Grants and the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Special Fund of State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering of Hohai University (XDA2010010307, 51979072).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Ling Xiong & Peng Yi

  2. College of Water Resources and Hydrology, Hohai University, Nanjing, China

    Ling Xiong & Peng Yi

  3. Department of Geology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE

    Dalal Alshamsi, Ahmed Murad, Saber Hussein & Ala Aldahan

  4. School of Nuclear Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Xiaolin Hou

  5. Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Riso Campus, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Xiaolin Hou

  6. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE

    Mohamed M. Mohamed

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  1. Ling Xiong
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  2. Dalal Alshamsi
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  3. Peng Yi
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  4. Xiaolin Hou
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  5. Ahmed Murad
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  6. Saber Hussein
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  7. Ala Aldahan
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  8. Mohamed M. Mohamed
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Correspondence to Peng Yi or Ala Aldahan.

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Xiong, L., Alshamsi, D., Yi, P. et al. Distribution of uranium isotopes in groundwater of the UAE: environmental radioactivity assessment. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 325, 57–66 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07216-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07216-3

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