DETERMINATION OF RADIOACTIVITY LEVELS IN HALKAPINAR WATER RESOURCES
Project no. 32291 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2024
Summary
<p>With a population approaching 5 million, İzmir is Turkey’s third-largest city after Istanbul and Ankara. Approximately 3.5 million of this population is concentrated in the city center surrounding the Gulf of İzmir, while the remainder is distributed across the surrounding districts. In recent years, migration to İzmir and its metropolitan area has accelerated, driving rapid urbanization and increasing population density. The city, with its dense population, is surrounded by numerous active faults. Among these, the most significant is the İzmir Fault (IF), a structure approximately 40 km in length that passes directly through the city center. The water resources of Halkapınar, located on the Pınarbaşı segment of the İzmir Fault, are of critical importance as they not only supply drinking water to the city but also lie in close proximity to an active fault zone. For this reason, assessing the radioactivity levels in Halkapınar’s water resources, as well as in surrounding water and soil samples, is of paramount importance.</p><p><br></p><p>As part of the project, radon (222Rn) and radium (226Ra) concentrations were measured in water samples collected from deep wells located on the İZSU Halkapınar campus. In addition, pH, electrical conductivity, and silica measurements were performed, the chemical composition of the waters was analyzed, and stable isotope measurements were carried out. Natural radioactivity levels (238U, 232Th, 40K) in soil samples from the region were also determined using gamma spectroscopy. Radon concentrations in groundwater ranged from 0.3 to 4.1 Bq/L, with the highest values recorded in October and the lowest in April. The well water temperatures varied between 21.5 and 26.2 °C, pH values ranged from 7.01 to 7.46, and electrical conductivity values were between 516 and 556 µS/cm. The natural radioactivity levels in the soil samples were found to be consistent with international averages.</p>