Neutron Activation Analysis of Soils
Date
200-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis has been applied in the
multi-element analysis of five soils from three agro-ecological zones
in Ghana, using the Single Relative Standardization Method. The
analysis was carried out at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission
Research Reactor-1 (GHARR-1) Centre. Concentrations of 34
elements in deciduous forest, forest and Coastal Savanna soils were
obtained. Elemental compositions and their levels in the five soils;
Oda ,Bekwai, Toje, Akuse and Ankasa series are related to the
nature of parent materials and the degree to which these materials
have been altered by weathering. The low isotopic abundance, low
thermal and epithermal cross-section together with the low sensitivity
of 0.07 counts/pg for the 30Si nuclide with energy 1266KeV made
detection of silicon in the five soils impossible. Validation of the
analytical technique which was done using a Standard Reference
Material SOIL-7 supplied by the International Atomic Energy Agency
showed a maximum deviation of 23.9%.
Description
Thesis (MPhil) - University of Ghana,2002.