Distribution of uranium isotopes in groundwater of the UAE: environmental radioactivity assessment

Ling Xiong, Dalal Alshamsi, Peng Yi, Xiaolin Hou, Ahmed Murad, Saber Hussein, Ala Aldahan*, Mohamed M. Mohamed

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Occurrence of uranium isotopes in groundwater provides a tracer technology for quality, sources, and recharge conditions. Groundwater samples collected from different aquifer types (sand dune, Quaternary clastics, ophiolite, carbonates and sabkha) in the UAE were analyzed for 238U and 235U. In addition to uranium isotopes, monitoring indicators also cover groundwater pH, temperature and TDS. The concentration of uranium isotopes (238U + 235U) range from 4 to 69,745 ng/L. The distribution of the isotopes in the groundwater of the UAE can be linked to aquifer lithological variability, distance from recharge front and seawater intrusion. In general, about 3% of the groundwater analyzed have uranium concentration above the WHO permissible limit for drinking water.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
    Volume325
    Pages (from-to)57-66
    ISSN0236-5731
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2020

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