Natural Radiation in the Rocks, Soils, and Groundwater of Southern Florida with a Discussion on Potential Health Impacts

Missimer, Thomas M.; Teaf, Christopher M.; Maliva, Robert G.; Danley-Thomson, Ashley; Covert, Douglas J.; Hegy, Michael

doi:10.3390/ijerph16101793

Cited by 60 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This expected behavior is just natural due to the limited penetration depth of atmospheric cosmic‐ray neutrons. Residual neutron intensity can be explained by the natural background radiation of soils (Missimer et al., 2019) and by the large scattering length of neutrons in air following underground pathways (Köhli et al., 2015).…”

Section: Experimental Proof Of Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrons on Rails: Transregional Monitoring of Soil Moisture and Snow Water Equivalent

Schrön

Oswald

Zacharias

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water stored in soils and snow controls the energy and water exchange between the terrestrial surface and the atmosphere (Vogel et al., 2018), impacts regional weather, and shapes the development of hydrometeorological extremes like heat waves, droughts, floods, or avalanches (e.g., Douville & Chauvin, 2000;Lehning et al., 1999;Liang & Yuan, 2021). Therefore, a solid estimation of land surface water at relevant spatiotemporal scales is of utmost importance.Satellite-based remote sensing platforms aim at global estimations of water in soils and snow at resolutions of several kilometers with the prospect of finer resolutions using new instrumentation and algorithms (Chan et al., 2016;Foucras et al., 2020;Mattia et al., 2018). However, major limitations are the shallow measurement depth (∼cm), long return frequencies (∼days), and low performance during complex weather conditions, under vegetation cover, and in complex terrain (Fang & Lakshmi, 2014;Lawford, 2014). Ground-based in situ sensors have been developed to measure water content in different soil depths with high spatiotemporal precision and extent from the point to smaller field scales (

show abstract

Section: Experimental Proof Of Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrons on Rails: Transregional Monitoring of Soil Moisture and Snow Water Equivalent

Schrön

Oswald

Zacharias

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The main sources of natural beta-radioactivity are the natural long-lived isotope 40 K and the radionuclide 238 U and 232 Th decay series [29,30]. In some areas, natural radioactivity is significantly increased due to the presence of radioactive elements in the rocks and/or soil [31,32]. The enhanced levels of natural radioactivity in the soil and water in the areas rich in natural radionuclides could affect plants, because radionuclides can easily pass into the plants from the soil through the roots and then to the other parts of the food chain [33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of UV Radiation and Other Abiotic Stress Factors on DNA of Different Wild Plant Species Grown in Three Successive Seasons in Alpine and Subalpine Regions

Gateva¹,

Jovtchev²,

Angelova³

et al. 2022

Phyton

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plants in natural ecosystems are exposed to a combination of UV radiation, ionizing radiation (IR) and other abiotic factors. These factors change with the altitude. We investigated DNA alterations of some wild plants of different plant families in natural ecosystems at three altitudes in Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (1500, 1782, and 2925 m above sea level (a.s.l.) exposed to UV radiation, IR and other abiotic stresses, to assess the tolerance of plant species to the changing environmental conditions in three successive growth seasons. For this purpose, physicochemical, cytogenetic, and molecular methods were applied. DNA damage was assessed by micronucleus test and molecular method comet assay adapted and applied by us to wild plant species from Onagraceae, Rosaceae, Boraginaceae, Saxifragaceae, Orobanchaceae, Asteraceae and Poaceae families, growing at three different altitudes. Variability in the DNA sensitivity and the level of tolerance was observed among the plant species in response to combined abiotic factors assessed by induced DNA damage and gross beta activity. The studied representatives of Poaceae were less susceptible than the other studied species at all three altitudes and showed close level of DNA injuries to that of unaffected control plant grown in laboratory conditions. The lower levels of DNA damage of these wild plant species corresponded to their lower ability to accumulate radionuclides. There was a particularly pronounced low level of DNA injuries in the plant species at the highest altitude. The level of DNA damage showed correlation with the values of some abiotic environmental factors. The results would contribute to the elucidation of the extent of adaptation of plant species to the continuously changing environment and would be useful in selecting sensitive herbaceous monitor species for environmental impact assessment at mountain and alpine sites.

show abstract

“…In order to be suitable for human consumption, it has to meet quality standards for microbial, chemical and radiological properties. Radionuclides are naturally present in water, resulting mainly from processes of dissolution, leaching and desorption of the surrounding geological environment (rocks and sediments) [23]. The primary alpha-emitting natural radionuclides present in water are 224 Ra, 226 Ra and 210 Po.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiological investigation of natural carbonated spring waters from Eastern Carpathians, Romania

Begy

Savin

Süle

et al. 2022

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The current study presents a radiological water-quality assessment on 64 spring water samples from four Romanian counties. The study area is abundant in CO2-rich spring waters consumed by locals and tourists. Gross alpha activities ranged between 21 ± 2 and 7530 ± 658 mBq L−1, with 27% of the samples exceeding the WHO threshold. Gross beta values ranged from 40 ± 2 to 5520 ± 430 mBq L−1, with 29% exceeding the recommended values. Radionuclide activities fluctuated between 0.6 ± 0.08 and 81 ± 6 Bq L−1 for 222Rn, 15 ± 2 to 1154 ± 112 mBq L−1 for 226Ra, and from 18 ± 2 to 64 ± 5 mBq L−1 for 210Po. The annual effective doses attributed to radium varied between 0.002 and 0.23 mSv yr−1.

show abstract

Natural Radiation in the Rocks, Soils, and Groundwater of Southern Florida with a Discussion on Potential Health Impacts

Cited by 60 publications

References 23 publications

Neutrons on Rails: Transregional Monitoring of Soil Moisture and Snow Water Equivalent

Neutrons on Rails: Transregional Monitoring of Soil Moisture and Snow Water Equivalent

Effect of UV Radiation and Other Abiotic Stress Factors on DNA of Different Wild Plant Species Grown in Three Successive Seasons in Alpine and Subalpine Regions

Radiological investigation of natural carbonated spring waters from Eastern Carpathians, Romania

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About