Seasonal variations of natural radionuclides, minor and trace elements in lake sediments and water in a lignite mining area of North-Western Greece

Abstract

The radiological and chemical pollution of a cluster of four lakes in a lignite mining area of North-Western Greece was investigated using a variety of analytical techniques. Alpha spectrometry was applied to measure the activity concentrations of the uranium radioisotopes (U-234, U-235, and U-238) in waters. The mass activities of U-238, Th-232, and K-40 in sediments were measured by high-resolution gamma spectrometry. Furthermore, the determination of the minor and trace elements was carried out by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) in both water and sediments samples, respectively. Pollution levels were also evaluated by calculating enrichment factors (EFs), contamination factors (CFs) and pollution load index (PLI). The data were discussed taking into account several parameters such as the distance from the pollution source, temperature, and location and showed that the environmental impact in this region could not be considered as negligible. The deviation of the isotopic ratio of U-234/U-238 from the equilibrium value indicated waters with intensive dissolution of uranium. The activity values in both waters and sediments found to be low in cool periods and increased in warm periods. Moreover, the concentrations of the elements U, Zn, and Fe were raised in water samples indicating possible pollution as well as the CFs and PLI denoted accumulation in the sediments and moderate to severe contamination for Zn and Cr in some cases.

Determination of radionuclide concentration and radiological hazard in soil and water near the uranium tailings reservoir in China

“…The median uranium concentrations in drinking water sources showed a decreasing trend: streams (135.30 µg L −1 ) > dams (115.62 µg L −1 ) > boreholes (111.31 µg L −1 ) > shallow wells (110.03 µg L −1 ) in the vicinity of a uranium mine in the Siavonga district [8]. In northwestern Greece, minor pollution of the lakes in a lignite mining area was slightly more prevalent during warm periods; this was because of leaching effects following the area's snow melt and rainfall, as well as increased evaporation and industrialization activity, especially during the summer [9]. The accumulation of radioactivity was limited from the irrigation in the paddy-soil around a decommissioned uranium mine in eastern China [10].…”

Basic Characteristics of Coal Gangue in a Small-Scale Mining Site and Risk Assessment of Radioactive Elements for the Surrounding Soils

“…Bohdan et al [11] reported the geochemistry and environmental impact of neutral drainage from an uraniferous coal waste pile, investigated an impact of former coal waste pile on local drainage, and finally concluded the amount of uranium element in sediments decreased with the distance from the plie. Noli et al [12] monitored the seasonal changes of natural radionuclides in lake sediments and water of the lignite mining area in northwest Greece, and found that most radionuclides have significant differences between cold and warm periods, and the accumulation amount was related to the distance from pollution sources.…”

Sustainable environmental chemistry and technology with focus on the Mediterranean area

“…The published articles cover scientific areas of environmental chemistry and environmental technology. The articles present the occurrence, temporal variation, and distribution of polar organic compounds in PM 10 and PM 2.5 in the coastal urban area of Thessaloniki City (Balla et al 2017), the levels and chemical characterization of PM 10 and their possible sources in the surrounding of lignite mine area (Samara et al 2017), the occurrence and variation of natural radionuclides and minor and trace elements in water and lake sediments of a lignite mine area (Noli and Tsamos 2017), and the occurrence of various elements in deposited dust and human hair (Eqani et al 2017). In the field of environmental technology, the articles present the effects of ozonation treatment on the organic matter (Stylianou et al 2017a), the use of novel adsorbents for removal of heavy metals (Kokkinos et al 2017), the use of reductive precipitation and membrane separation for chromate removal from groundwaters (Stylianou et al 2017b), and the treatment of landfill leachate by membrane bioreactors (Gkotsis et al 2017).…”