Spatial distribution of radioisotopes in the coast of Suez Gulf, southwestern Sinai and the impact of hot springs.

This work describes the concentrations of radioisotopes in soil, sediment, wild plants and groundwater in southwestern Sinai. The study area extends from Suez to Abu Rudies along the eastern part of the Suez Gulf. It included two hot springs: Ayun Musa and Hammam Faraoun. No dependence of ¹³⁷Cs concentrations on any of the measured sand characteristics was found, including calcium carbonate. The enrichment of ²²⁶Ra in Hammam Faraoun hot spring was the most prominent feature. The ²²⁶Ra concentration in hot springs of Ayun Musa and Hammam Faraoun were 68 and 2377 Bq kg⁻¹ for sediments, 3.5 and 54.0 Bq kg⁻¹ for wild plants and 205 and 1945 mBq l⁻¹ for the groundwater, respectively. In addition, ²²⁶Ra activity concentration in local sand in the area of Hammam Faraoun was ∼14 times that of Ayun Musa. On the other hand, the ²³²Th concentrations were comparable in the two hot springs, while ¹³⁷Cs concentrations were relatively higher in Ayun Musa. The characteristics and radioelements studies support possible suggestions that the waters in the two hot springs have different contributions of sea and groundwaters crossing different geological layers where the water-rock interaction takes place.