Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Predictive Modeling Of Terrestrial Radiation Exposure From Geologic Materials, Daniel A. Haber

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Aerial gamma ray surveys are an important tool for national security, scientific, and industrial interests in determining locations of both anthropogenic and natural sources of radioactivity. There is a relationship between radioactivity and geology and in the past this relationship has been used to predict geology from an aerial survey. The purpose of this project

is to develop a method to predict the radiologic exposure rate of the geologic materials in an area by creating a model using geologic data, images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), geochemical data, and pre-existing low spatial resolution aerial surveys …

Modeling Background Radiation Using Geochemical Data, Kara Marsac

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Aerial gamma ray surveys have many applications in geology and science in general, such as locating mining prospects, defining radioactive plumes, and detecting nuclear weapons. Unfortunately there is currently no simple way to separate the natural gamma radiation of soil and rocks from that of contaminants such as radioactive plumes. This project used geochemical data (uranium, potassium and thorium concentrations) collected from national databases, private companies, and the NURE (National Uranium Resource Evaluation) Survey, to create forward models of exposure rates measured by aerial gamma ray surveys. We developed these techniques using an area in north central Arizona known as …