Natural radioactivity content and mineralogical composition of beach sands from the Gulf of Squillace, Southern Italy: a case study

This article reports a case study on the natural radioactivity content of beach sands from the Gulf of Squillace, Ionian coast of Calabria, Southern Italy, including the assessment of the natural activity concentration and the resulting estimation of the radiological health risk, related to their mineralogical phase composition. The analysis of the natural radioisotopes content was performed by using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry, with the aim of quantifying the mean activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K. Radiological hazard indices were thus estimated, in order to evaluate any possible radiological risk for the population that uses to spend summer holidays on this renowned tourist destination. Moreover, the identification of the source of the aforementioned naturally occurring radionuclides was attempted by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and Micro-Raman Scattering (MRS), thereby recognizing the main radioisotope-bearing minerals present in the studied beach sands. The obtained results can also be used as a baseline for future investigations regarding background radioactivity levels of the studied area.