Study of 210Po and 210Pb in the riverine environments of coastal Karnataka.

Activity of (210)Po and (210)Pb were measured in soil and sediment samples collected from the major rivers Kali, Sharavathi and Netravathi of Coastal Karnataka. The activity of these two radionuclides were determined by radiochemical separation of (210)Po and counting the activity using a ZnS(Ag) Alpha counter. The activity of (210)Pb was higher than that of (210)Po in the riverine environs. The (210)Po and (210)Pb content in sediment was found to increase with silt/clay and organic matter contents. However no significant correlation was found between the activity (210)Po and (210)Pb with pH in sediments. The activity of (210)Po and (210)Pb and influence of physico-chemical parameters on these radionuclides were studied and discussed in this paper. Copyright (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.