Radiometric study of beach sand deposits along the coast of Western Cape province, South Africa

• Main Author: Mbatha, Nkanyiso Bongumusa
• Other Authors: Mohanty, Atulya Kumar
• Language: en
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Natural radioactivity; Gamma-ray spectrometry; Radionuclides; Provenance investigation; Beach sand; Uranium fixation; West Coast; Activity concentration; Grain-size; Heavy minerals
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11394/3744

Magister Scientiae - MSc === Natural radioactivity studies have been carried out to study the textural characteristics, heavy mineral composition, provenance, sediment transport, and depositional environment of beach placer deposits. The naturally occurring radionuclides such as 232Th, 238U and 40K are used as the tracers of the mineralogical properties of beach sands, which reflect the geological characteristics such as transport and sorting processes and the depositional environment. The present work focuses on the radiometric characteristics of beach sand deposits along the west coast of South Africa. Beach sands samples were collected at the Melkbosstrand (MBS) and Ouskip (OSK) beach. The activity concentrations of these radionuclides were determined by high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector in a low-background configuration.