Radionuclide determination and radioactivity evaluation of surface soil samples collected along the Erçek Lake basin in eastern Anatolia, Turkey

• The study presents the activity of natural and artificial radionuclides in soil samples.
• The activity concentrations of radionuclides are measured by gamma spectrometer.
• Absorbed gamma dose rate from natural and artificial radionuclides is estimated.
• Annual effective dose due to external exposure is estimated.
• In this study, the regional scale radioactivity map is produced.

In the present study, the mean activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, 40 K and fission products 137Cs in the soil samples measured by using high-purity germanium gamma spectrometry were 18.9, 27.2, 524.0 and 10.6 Bq kg− 1, respectively. The activity results were analyzed for frequency distribution, tabulated and compared with Turkey and worldwide literatures. Radiological risk evaluation was done by calculating absorbed gamma dose rate in outdoor air and the corresponding annual effective dose due to external exposure to radionuclides distributed in soil. The mean values of the outdoor gamma dose rates and the external annual effective doses received by members of the public from terrestrial radiation and 137Cs were estimated at 47 nGy h− 1 and 0.6 nGy h− 1 and 57.7 μSv and 1.2 μSv, respectively.