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Influence of fertilizers on the natural radioactivity profile of soil samples of agricultural land in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu State, India

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Abstract

Besides the presence of naturally occurring primordial radionuclides at varying levels in soils, the source of additional natural radioactivity content in agricultural land soils is mainly due to the presence of NORM in the fertilizers. Natural Radioactivity content is determined in ten different types of fertilizers available in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu State and influence of these, if any, in fertilized agricultural soil samples is investigated and compared with virgin soil samples from nearby agricultural land where fertilizers were not used. Relatively higher radioactivity content of 238U and 40K are observed in single super phosphate and potash fertilizers respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Secretary, Meenakshi College for Women (Autonomous), Chennai, Tamilnadu, for granting permission to use gamma ray spectroscopy facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Meenakshi Sundararajan Engineering College, Kodambakkam, Chennai, 600024, India

    J. Punniyakotti

  2. Department of Physics, Meenakshi Sundararajan Research Centre, Meenakshi College for Women, Kodambakkam, Chennai, 600024, India

    K. S. Lakshmi, V. Meenakshisundaram, N. Manju & P. Poonguzhali

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  1. J. Punniyakotti
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  2. K. S. Lakshmi
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  3. V. Meenakshisundaram
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  4. N. Manju
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  5. P. Poonguzhali
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Correspondence to J. Punniyakotti.

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Punniyakotti, J., Lakshmi, K.S., Meenakshisundaram, V. et al. Influence of fertilizers on the natural radioactivity profile of soil samples of agricultural land in Villupuram District, Tamilnadu State, India. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 325, 85–92 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-020-07210-9

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