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Seasonal variations of natural radionuclides, minor and trace elements in lake sediments and water in a lignite mining area of North-Western Greece

  • Sustainable environmental chemistry and technology with focus on the Mediterranean area
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Abstract

The radiological and chemical pollution of a cluster of four lakes in a lignite mining area of North-Western Greece was investigated using a variety of analytical techniques. Alpha spectrometry was applied to measure the activity concentrations of the uranium radioisotopes (U-234, U-235, and U-238) in waters. The mass activities of U-238, Th-232, and K-40 in sediments were measured by high-resolution gamma spectrometry. Furthermore, the determination of the minor and trace elements was carried out by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) in both water and sediments samples, respectively. Pollution levels were also evaluated by calculating enrichment factors (EFs), contamination factors (CFs) and pollution load index (PLI). The data were discussed taking into account several parameters such as the distance from the pollution source, temperature, and location and showed that the environmental impact in this region could not be considered as negligible. The deviation of the isotopic ratio of U-234/U-238 from the equilibrium value indicated waters with intensive dissolution of uranium. The activity values in both waters and sediments found to be low in cool periods and increased in warm periods. Moreover, the concentrations of the elements U, Zn, and Fe were raised in water samples indicating possible pollution as well as the CFs and PLI denoted accumulation in the sediments and moderate to severe contamination for Zn and Cr in some cases.

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Acknowledgements

This research project has been supported by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme through the “Research Infrastructures” action of the “Capacities” Programme, NMI3-II Grant number 283883. The authors would like to thank the people at the Reactor Institute (TU-Delft, The Netherlands) for the INAA measurements.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Fotini Noli & Panagiotis Tsamos

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  1. Fotini Noli
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  2. Panagiotis Tsamos
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Correspondence to Fotini Noli.

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Noli, F., Tsamos, P. Seasonal variations of natural radionuclides, minor and trace elements in lake sediments and water in a lignite mining area of North-Western Greece. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 12222–12233 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9801-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9801-z

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