Radioecological, physicochemical, and mineralogical investigations of soil samples from neutral and vegetation land in Ropar, Punjab (India)

Abstract The present work aims to compare and contrast radiological, mineralogical, and morphological attributes of soil samples from a neutral and agricultural site in Rupnagar, Punjab, to study the influence of land use patterns. The mean activity concentration of 238U, 232Th, 40K, 235U, and 137Cs determined using a p-type HPGe detector in neutral land was observed as 38.45, 58.50, 305.37, 2.02, and 0.78 Bq kg-1, respectively, while in vegetation land, it was 26.57, 45.11, 409.54, 1.60 and 1.28 Bq kg-1 respectively. Radium equivalent (Raeq) for all investigated specimens was below the safe limit of 370Bq kg-1 prescribed by OECD. Further, dosimetric investigations revealed that for neutral land, the outdoor absorbed gamma dose rate (65.83nGy h-1) and resulting annual effective dose rate (0.08mSv y-1) slightly exceeded the world average. The surface morphology of neutral land favored more compactness, while agricultural land favored high porosity. Various heavy metals of health concern, namely As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Se, and Zn, were also evaluated in all soil specimens using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Pollution Load Index (PLI) and Ecological Risk Index (RI) revealed that vegetation land was more anthropogenically contaminated in comparison to neutral land, with maximum contamination from Hg and As.