Assessment of gamma-emitting radionuclides in sediment cores from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

The Gulf of Aqaba is the only seaport in Jordan which currently has intense activities such as industrial development, phosphate ore exportation, oil importation, shipping, commercial and sport fishing. Most of these activities, especially the phosphate ore exportation, could cause serious radiological effects to the marine environment. Thus, it is essential to investigate the level of the radioactivity concentrations to establish a baseline database, which is not available yet in the Gulf of Aqaba. Radioactivity concentrations of gamma-emitting radionuclides in core and beach sediments of the Gulf of Aqaba were investigated. Core sediments were collected from five representative locations for three different water column depths (5, 15 and 35 m). The results showed that the activity concentrations of 238U, 235U and 226Ra for both seafloor and beach sediments from the phosphate loading berth (PLB) location to be higher than those from other investigated locations and more than twice as high as the worldwide average; the 238U activity concentration was found to vary from 57 to 677 Bq kg−1. The results also showed that there is little variation of radioactivity concentrations within the core length of 15 cm. The calculated mean values of the radium equivalent activity Raeq, the external hazard index, Hex, the absorbed dose rate and the annual effective dose for the beach sediment in PLB location were 626 Bq kg−1, 1.69, 263 nGy h−1 and 614 µSv y−1, respectively. These values are much higher than the recommended limits that impose potential health risks to the workers in this location. As for other studied locations, the corresponding values were far below the maximum recommended limit and lies within the worldwide range.