Evaluation of gross-α, gross-β, U, Th and K values in groundwater and related health hazards: a case study, Arıklı mineralization area and its surroundings, Ayvacık, Çanakkale, Turkey

Variation of natural radioactivity level in the ground waters in the Arıklı uranium mineralization area, were investigated together with gross-α, gross-β, U, Th, K, EC and pH values. The U, Th and K values, which are mainly controlled by the geological features, varied over a wide range from 0.29 to 31.29 µg/L, 0.01–0.27 μg/L and from 0.44 to 37.29 mg/L, respectively. Although the U values of some water samples are higher than the WHO safe limits (15 ppb), all values of the gross-α and -β activity values and annual effective dose rates are lower than the drinking water safety limits of WHO (0.5 Bq/L, 1.0 Bq/L and 0.1 mSv/y, respectively).