Determınatıon of heavy metals ın some soıl samples by photoactıvatıon analysıs

Photoactivation analysis (PAA) is a very useful and reliable method for the multielement determinations in environmental soil samples. Metals resulting from the processed seed, fertilisers, fungicides, irrigation canals and atmospheric fallout can be transmitted to soil, from soil to eatable plants and as a consequence to human beings. Therefore, analysis of soil comes into prominence in terms of the environmental health. For the above-mentioned study area, this thesis work makes a orgininal and necessary because of the low cost and high reliability of PAA. Within this thesis work, the soil samples corrected from different points in the surrounding of Karaman were determined concentrations of 17 elements (Sr, Ni, Mg, Fe, Zr, Cd, As, Ca, Br, Rb, Mn, I, Zn, Pb, Tl, U and Ba) by photoactivation analysis (PAA) method based on the (γ,n), (γ,p) and (γ,γ') photonuclear reactions. In order to carry out photoactivation, the samples were irradiated for up to about 85 minutes exploiting bremsstrahlung photons produced by the Philips SLI-25 clinical electron linear accelerator (c-LINAC) which has end-point energy of 18 MeV at Akdeniz University Nuclear Science Application and Research Center. In combination the high purity germanium (HPGe) detector, the gamma spectrum for each sample was analysed. The obtained results with PAA method were compared with XRF methods. In this study, the obtained conclusions can be summarized as follows: i-) PAA has been found practical, suitable and rapid for multielement determination in environmental samples such as soil, ii-) The c-LINAC exhibits considerable potential for analytical work and experimental nuclear physics and iii-) The data presented in this preliminary study may be used as a basis for the future detailed investigations in the studied area.