Abstract:In recent years, seagrass beds in Cam Ranh Bay and Thuy Trieu Lagoon have declined from 800 to 550 hectares, resulting insignificantly reducing the number of fish catch. This phenomenon is due to the effect of the degradation of water environment. Turbidity is one of the most important water quality parameters directly related to underwater light penetration which affects the primary productivity. This study aims to investigate spatiotemporal variation of turbidity in the waters with major factors affecting its patterns using remote sensing data. An algorithm for turbidity retrieval was developed based on the correlation between in situ measurements and a red band of Landsat 8 OLI with R 2 = 0.84 (p < 0.05). Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) model was used to compute bed shear stress, a major factor affecting turbidity in shallow waters. In addition, the relationships between turbidity and rainfall, and bed shear stress induced by wind were analyzed. It was found that: (1) In the dry season, turbidity was low at the middle of the bay while it was high in shallow waters nearby coastlines. Resuspension of bed sediment was a major factor controlling turbidity during time with no rainfall. (2) In the rainy season or for a short time after rainfall in the dry season, turbidity was high due to a large amount of runoff entering into the study area.
In this study, natural radioactivity in surface soils of Vietnam and external dose assessment to human population, deduced from activities of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K nuclides, were determined. From 528 soil samples collected in 63 provinces of Vietnam, including five centrally governed cities, the average activities were obtained and equal to 42.77 ± 18.15 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, 59.84 ± 19.81 Bq kg(-1) for (232)Th and 411.93 ± 230.69 Bq kg(-1) for (40)K. The outdoor absorbed dose rates (OADRs) in air at 1 m above the ground level for 63 provinces were calculated, and their average value was 71.72 ± 24.72 nGy h(-1), with a range from 17.45 to 149.40 nGy h(-1). The population-weighted OADR of Vietnam was 66.70 nGy h(-1), which lies in the range of 18-93 nGy h(-1) found in the World. From the OADRs obtained, it was estimated that the outdoor annual effective dose and indoor annual effective dose to the population were 0.082 and 0.458 mSv, which are higher than the corresponding values 0.07 and 0.41 mSv, respectively, of the World. The radium equivalent activity Ra(eq) and the external hazard index H(ex) of surface soils of Vietnam are lower than the corresponding permissible limits of 370 Bq kg(-1) and 1, respectively. Therefore, soil from Vietnam is safe for the human population when it is used as a building material.
Radioactivity concentrations of nuclides of the 232 Th and 238 U radioactive chains and 40 K, 90 Sr, 137 Cs, and 239+240 Pu were surveyed for raw and cooked food of the population in the Red River delta region, Vietnam, using α-, γ-spectrometry, and liquid scintillation counting techniques. The concentration of 40 K in the cooked food was the highest compared to those of other radionuclides ranging from (23 ± 5) (rice) to (347 ± 50) Bq kg −1 dw (tofu). The 210 Po concentration in the cooked food ranged from its limit of detection (LOD) of 5 mBq kg −1 dw (rice) to (4.0 ± 1.6) Bq kg −1 dw (marine bivalves). The concentrations of other nuclides of the 232 Th and 238 U chains in the food were low, ranging from LOD of 0.02 Bq kg −1 dw to (1.1 ± 0.3) Bq kg −1 dw. The activity concentrations of 90 Sr, 137 Cs, and 239+240 Pu in the food were minor compared to that of the natural radionuclides. The average annual committed effective dose to adults in the study region was estimated and it ranged from 0.24 to 0.42 mSv a −1 with an average of 0.32 mSv a −1 , out of which rice, leafy vegetable, and tofu contributed up to 16.2%, 24.4%, and 21.3%, respectively. The committed effective doses to adults due to ingestion of regular diet in the Red River delta region, Vietnam are within the range determined in other countries worldwide. This finding suggests that Vietnamese food is safe for human consumption with respect to radiation exposure.
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