Radioactivity Levels in Some Sediments and Water Samples from Qarun Lake by Low?Level Gamma Spectrometry

The specific activities of the natural radionuclides 238U, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured in sediments and water samples collected from the Qarun lake (Middle Egypt) in order to gather information about radionuclides mobility and distribution. In the sediment and water in general, the concentration of 238U was found to be higher than that of the 232Th and the activities of 232Th, 226Ra and 238U in this lake falls within the worldwide ranges while 40K was observed in sediment samples, ranging from 410 to 1426 Bq kg-1 be higher than the worldwide average. The results have been compared with other radioactivity measurements in different countries. Multivariate Statistical analyses were carried out between the parameters obtained from the radioactivity to know the existing relations and to study the spatial distribution of radionuclides.