الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Naturally occurring radionuclides of terrestrial origin are present in the earth’s crust since its origin. These primordial radionuclides have sufficiently longer half-lives, that they survived since their creation and decaying to attain the stable state and produces ionizing radiation in various degrees. In most places on the earth, the natural radioactivity varies only within narrow limits, but in some places there are wide deviations from normal levels because of abnormally high levels of radioactive minerals. Radionuclides from the natural decay series (238U, 232Th and 235U) are present in the environment in different forms and quantities. Together with 40K, considerable amounts of these natural radionuclides and their daughter products can be found in soil with varying activity concentrations depending on the region and soil type. Radiological risk assessment resulting from radionuclides present in rocks and soil has become necessary to avoid exposure to ionizing radiation. This present study assesses the specific activities and examines some of the radiation hazard indices of these naturally occurring radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 137Cs and 40K) in soil, sediment, plant and water samples in the study area in north Al-Mathany village, Mersa Matruh governorate, which lies at the coastal zone of the north western desert using gamma ray spectrometry. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) used for analysis and determination of the heavy elements in surface water. The values reported in this study were in the same order of magnitude within the world average range and constitute a baseline for radioactivity in the study area as no such study has been carried out in this region before.