RT Journal Article
T1 Pit lakes from Southern Sweden: natural radioactivity and elementary characterization
A1 Mantero, J.
A1 Thomas, R.
A1 Holm, E.
A1 Ruiz Cánovas, Carlos
AB Natural radioactivity in the environment is a field gaining more attention in last decades. This workis focused on the study of natural radioactivity complemented with elementary characterization atformer non‑uraniferous mining areas in Sweden. This aim is addressed through the study of mininglakes, called pit lakes, which are water bodies generated after opencast mining. Environmentalmatrices (water, sediments and rocks) from 32 Swedish pit lakes, commonly used for recreationalpurposes were radiometrically characterized via alpha (238U, 234U, 232Th, 230Th, 210Po isotopes) andgamma spectrometry (238U and 232Th series radionuclides). Additionally, ambient dose rate equivalentin the immediate surrounding of each pit lake was quantified. Physico‑chemical parameters (pH,specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, oxidation–reduction potential) and elemental composition(major and trace elements by ICP‑MS) were analysed in water samples and elementary composition ofsediments/rocks was measured by XRF and SEM–EDX in some specific cases. A non‑negligible numberof pit lakes (26%) with enhanced U levels in water was found. At some sites, rocks contained up to4% of U in areas with high degree of interaction with local population. Concerning the elementaryperspective, another popular site (due to its turquoise water) was found to have elevated dissolvedheavy metal levels. Results obtained in this work prove that measurement of natural radioactivity isanother component that should be included in routine analysis of characterization in mining areas,especially if restauration of post‑mining sites is intended for human recreational.
PB Nature Research
SN 2045-2322
YR 2020
FD 2020-08
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/18864
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/18864
LA eng
NO Mantero, J., Thomas, R., Holm, E. ... Ruiz Canovas, C. (2020). Pit lakes from Southern Sweden: natural radioactivity and elementary characterization. Scientific Reports, 10(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70521-0
NO Work supported by the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM2014-3485). The authors thank Dr. Ana Calleja at Radioisotopes Laboratory (ICP-MS measurements) and the X-Ray Laboratory staff (XRF measurements), both from CITIUS facilities at the University of Seville. Furthermore, the Applied Nuclear Physics Group at the University of Seville, is also acknowledged for its continuous technical support during the different stages of this project. Open access funding provided by University of Gothenburg
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026