Activity levels of some radionuclides in Mariout and Brullus lakes, Egypt

Mariout and Brullus are two of the highly fish-productive lakes in the northern coast of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea. They are widely used to drain industrial wastes, sewage and agriculture drainage. The activities of (238)U, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs were measured in the uppermost part of the surface sediments of the two lakes, using gamma-ray spectrophotometry. Brullus Lake recorded significantly higher (238)U and (232)Th and lower (40)K (17.22±2.49, 10.03±0.56 and 299.70±17.78 Bq kg(-1)) than Mariout Lake (12.65±1.53, 7.24±0.76 and 518.75±46.24 Bq kg(-1), respectively). Cesium-137 shows nearly equal activities in both lakes (3.33±0.46 and 3.68±0.70 Bq kg(-1), respectively). Activity distributions of (238)U and (232)Th in the sediments of Mariout Lake show a significant increase to the west, southwest and northeast, (40)K activity increased westwards, while the (137)Cs level was increased to the east and northeast, indicating agriculture drainage, industrial wastes and lands reclamation around the lake. At Brullus Lake, the activity trends of (238)U, (232)Th, (40)K and(137)Cs were increasing to the west and south towards the agriculture and industrial waste-water-feeding drains.