238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, Iran

The determination of activity concentrations of the radioactive elements 238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs was performed on grab samples taken from a polluted environment. The samples were sliced into strata from 5 cm depth, dried and ground to sieved through a 170 mesh size prior to the analysis. Activity concentration was quantified using gamma spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentrations of activity in the sediment samples are 177 ± 12.4, 117 ± 11.5, 1085 ± 101.6 and 131 ± 4.8 Bq kg−1 for 238U, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs, respectively. In general, the distribution of activity concentrations along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea area exceeded international limits. The hazard index of the samples was 0.19–0.88, with an average of 0.49. The mean values of radium equivalent activity and dose rate are 176 Bq kg−1 and 63 nGy h−1, respectively.