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A comprehensive study of exhalation rates in soil samples to understand the high-risk potential area in Barnala and Moga districts of Punjab, India

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Abstract

The measurements of radon/thoron exhalation rates from soil are useful to know high risk potential area from the view point of health effects. The exhalation rates have been estimated in 50 soil samples taken from Barnala and Moga districts of Punjab, India using scintillation based detector, Smart RnDuo. Soil samples have been collected using grid pattern of 6 × 6 km2 for uniform mapping of the area. The radon mass exhalation rates have been found to vary from 4.56 ± 0.53 to 41.13 ± 1.21 mBqkg−1 h−1 with an average value of 24.8 ± 1 mBqkg−1 h−1 which are lower than the worldwide average value of 57 mBqkg−1 h−1. The thoron surface exhalation rates lie in the range from 1.50 ± 0.63 to 23.77 ± 1.52 kBqm−2 h−1 with mean value of 15.62 ± 1.24 kBqm−2 h−1 which are higher than worldwide average value of 3.60 kBqm−2 h−1 as reported by UNSCEAR 2000. These exhalation rates are indicative of less radon levels in this study area.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the residents of the study areas for their support in carrying out field work for sample collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University, Bathinda, 151001, India

    Supriya Rani, Sandeep Kansal & Amit Kumar Singla

  2. Department of Physics, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, J&K, 190006, India

    Salik Nazir

  3. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, 144011, India

    Rohit Mehra

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  1. Supriya Rani
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Contributions

Supriya Rani and Sandeep Kansal have designed the research plan and prepared the manuscript with contribution of Amit Kumar Singla, Salik Nazir and Rohit Mehra. Supriya Rani and Salik Nazir generated all the figures and tables in the manuscript. Supriya Rani carried out all the field work for sample collection and analysis in the lab. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sandeep Kansal.

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Rani, S., Kansal, S., Singla, A.K. et al. A comprehensive study of exhalation rates in soil samples to understand the high-risk potential area in Barnala and Moga districts of Punjab, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 331, 1889–1897 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-08129-5

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