Radioactivity and metals content of beach sands from the Sicily region, Southern Italy

Abstract

This paper reports an investigation aimed at evaluating the radioactivity and metals content of beach sands from the Sicily region, Southern Italy. The specific activity of natural (²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K) and anthropogenic (¹³⁷Cs) radionuclides was assessed through High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry. Radiological hazard indices, i.e. absorbed gamma dose rate (D), annual effective dose equivalent outdoor (AEDE_out) and excess lifetime cancer risk (ELCR), were thus calculated in order to estimate any possible radiological risk for the population that uses to spend summer holidays on this renowned tourist destination. Furthermore, Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements were conducted for the quantitative elemental analysis of the investigated sands, in order to determine any possible chemical pollution by metals. To this aim, different indices such as geo-accumulation index (I_geo), contamination factor (CF) and pollution load index (PLI) were calculated with the aim to assess the level of toxicity imposed on the ecosystem by the detected metals. It is noteworthy that the used approach could be applied, in principle, not only for the assessment of the radiological and chemical risk due to the occurrence of potentially harmful elements in a wide range of samples of special environmental interest, but also as guideline for investigations focused on the monitoring of the environmental quality.