Analysis of terrestrial naturally occurring radionuclides in soil samples from some areas of Sirsa district of Haryana, India using gamma ray spectrometry

The activity concentration and the gamma-absorbed dose rates of the terrestrial naturally occurring radionuclides (Th-232, Ra-226 and K-40) were determined in soil samples collected from ten different locations of Sirsa district of Haryana, using HPGe detector based on high-resolution gamma spectrometry system. The range of activity concentrations of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 in the soil samples from the studied areas varies from 19.18 Bq kg(-1) (Moriwala) to 40.31 Bq kg(-1) (Rori), 59.43 Bq kg(-1) (Pipli) to 89.54 Bq kg(-1) (Fatehpur) and 223.22 Bq kg(-1) (Moriwala) to 313.32 Bq kg(-1) (SamatKhera) with overall mean values of 27.94, 72.75 and 286.73 Bq kg(-1) respectively. The absorbed dose rate calculated from activity concentration of Ra-226, Th-232 and K-40 ranges between 8.84 and 18.58, 37.02 and 55.78, and 9.24 and 12.97 nGy h(-1), respectively. The total absorbed dose in the study area ranges from 60.40 to 82.15 nGy h(-1) with an average value of 70.12 nGy h(-1). The calculated values of external hazard index (IIex) for the soil samples of the study area range from 0.36 to 0.49 with an average value of 0.42.