Temporal assessment of the Tagoro volcano radiological impact by mean coastal sediments gamma spectrometry

Abstract

In October 2011 a submarine eruption at the southern area of El Hierro island occurred. The submarine volcanic activity was in active for several months until March 2012. Submarine and coastal sediments over eight years from different locations around El Hierro were analysed by gamma spectrometry. The objective was to evaluate changes in natural radioactivity around the island. Contour maps of activity concentration of 226Ra, 210Pbex, 228Ra, 224Ra and 40K radionuclides were done and a Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA test was performed to evaluate these changes. Contour maps and statistical analysis showed an increase in 226Ra of 10 Bq/Kg in the area influenced by the stain. Moreover, there has been a noticeable increased in 224Ra, 228Ra, 210Pbex and 40K in eight years from the submarine eruption and although the reasons are not entirely clear, this increase may be due, more than to an influence of the volcano,