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ThesisItem Restricted Investigation of gamma ray spectrometry as a tool for the measurement of attenuation coefficient and density of soil(Punjab Agricultural University, 2023) Singla, Aditi; Dhingra, NitishThe gamma ray attenuation coefficient is a crucial parameter to characterize the penetration and diffusion of gamma radiation in complex materials such as soil. Soils have a multi-phase heterogeneous nature involving minerals, gases, organic matter, water, and metals. The study reports the application of gamma ray spectrometry to determine the mass attenuation coefficient and soil bulk density. The impact of incident gamma ray energy, soil texture and soil depth on the mass attenuation coefficient is also investigated. The experimental measurements were performed using a gamma spectrometer containing 2" x 2" NaI (Tl) detector at gamma energies of 0.356, 0.662, and 1.332 MeV using 133Ba, 137Cs, and 60Co sources, respectively. The soil samples corresponding to two textures and three depths were obtained from the research farms of the Department of Soil Science, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. The study revealed that the attenuation coefficient depends on the energy of incident radiation and the nature as well as the composition of the soil. The mass attenuation coefficient decreases rapidly with the increase in gamma radiation energy. The measured value of mass attenuation coefficient was used to calculate soil bulk density which agreed reasonably well within uncertainties with the value obtained with conventional method. Mass attenuation coefficient was found to be higher for sandy loam compared to sandy clay loam textured soil. Moreover, the attenuation coefficient was higher for the lower depths than the upper depth. The study can be extended to determine important soil parameters such as porosity and moisture content
