Geological Formation and Soil Type Impact on Terrestrial Gamma Radiation Dose: A Statistical Approach of Dange Shuni (LGA) Sokoto State Nigeria

Abstract

Background radiation information is a viable tool for mitigating negative
influence of the Terrestrial Gamma Radiation Dose rate (TGRD) on humans
and their livelihood, Terrestrial gamma radiation plays significant role in
background radiation which largely depends on the type of soil and
fundamental geological pattern in a location. Several In situ evaluation of
gamma radiation dose of the varied geological formations were performed in
the area. Handheld Geiger Muller (GM) radiation survey meter (RADOS
RDS-31) was used in evaluating the terrestrial gamma radiation dose while
one way (ANOVA) variance analysis was employed to determine and
compare the TGRD at different geological and soil formations. The external
radiation dose which ranges from 15 - 270 nGy/h having an overall mean
value of 91.95635 nGy/h throughout the geological formations was
assessed where the mean value exceeded the global limit of 59 nGyh−1 by
200%, furthermore, external gamma radiation dose rates ranging from 40 to
270 nGy/h with overall mean value of 120.0893 nGy/h. TGRD across the
existing soil types was also evaluated. It was found out that the Dange
formation has highest mean TGRD value of 161.1111 nGyh−1
. The
assessment reveals significant influence of geological formation and soil
type formation on the evaluated TGRD rates of Dange Formation.