Beryllium-7 is a cosmogenic radionuclide produced in the upper atmosphere through the spallation of cosmic rays and falls to Earth mainly by wet deposition. Given its short half-life (53 days) and strong adsorption to the clay present in the soil, Be inventory can be evaluated to obtain information about soil redistribution over periods of up to 6 months. By performing these measurements, one can infer the efficiency of soil management and conservation procedures. The isotope presence is measured using gamma-ray spectrometry to detect its decay emission, specifically a photon with an energy of 477.6 keV. Since other isotopes found in soil emit photons with similar energies, it is common to use High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors due to their high energy resolution. However, these detectors are expensive and require cryogenic cooling during operation. An alternative is the Thallium-Activated Sodium Iodide (NaI(Tl)) detector, which is less costly and does not require cryogenic cooling, but has poorer resolution and cannot separate the emissions from Ac (463.0 keV), Be, and Tl (510.7 keV). This work aims to apply spectral deconvolution to quantify Be in soil samples collected from an agricultural mega-parcel situated on a hill slope and evaluate the soil redistribution experienced within. The activities of the interfering isotopes were quantified using other emissions, and the results were used to calculate the corresponding area in the desired region of the spectra. From this, Be activities were calculated and compared with the HPGe results to validate the deconvolution technique. The calculated activities for the three radioisotopes showed similar correspondence between the two detectors, indicating that the applied method is adequate for evaluating soil redistribution at lower costs. The calculated net soil deposition was 36.4 ± 6.4 kgm for the NaI(Tl) detector and 26.4 ± 7.9 kgm for the HPGe detector during the evaluated period. Furthermore, these results suggest that a similar approach can be applied to quantify other isotopes using NaI(Tl) detectors as an alternative to HPGe detectors.

中文翻译：

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用于 Beryllium-7 检测的光谱反卷积方法：使用 NaI(Tl) 探测器评估土壤重新分布


铍 7 是一种宇宙放射性核素，通过宇宙射线散裂在高层大气中产生，主要通过湿沉降落到地球。鉴于其半衰期短（53 天）且对土壤中粘土的吸附力强，可以评估 Be 库存以获得长达 6 个月的土壤重新分布信息。通过执行这些测量，人们可以推断土壤管理和保护程序的效率。使用伽马射线光谱法来测量同位素的存在，以检测其衰变发射，特别是能量为 477.6 keV 的光子。由于土壤中发现的其他同位素发射具有相似能量的光子，因此通常使用高纯度锗 (HPGe) 探测器，因为它们具有高能量分辨率。然而，这些探测器价格昂贵，并且在操作过程中需要低温冷却。另一种替代方案是铊激活碘化钠 (NaI(Tl)) 探测器，其成本较低且不需要低温冷却，但分辨率较差，无法分离 Ac (463.0 keV)、Be 和 Tl (510.7 keV）。这项工作的目的是应用光谱反卷积来量化从位于山坡上的一个大型农业地块收集的土壤样本中的 Be，并评估其中经历的土壤重新分布。使用其他发射来量化干扰同位素的活性，并使用结果来计算所需光谱区域中的相应面积。由此计算出 Be 活度并与 HPGe 结果进行比较，以验证反卷积技术。 三种放射性同位素的计算活度显示两个探测器之间具有相似的对应关系，表明所应用的方法足以以较低的成本评估土壤重新分布。在评估期间，计算得出的 NaI(Tl) 探测器的净土壤沉积量为 36.4 ± 6.4 kgm，HPGe 探测器的计算净土壤沉积量为 26.4 ± 7.9 kgm。此外，这些结果表明，使用 NaI(Tl) 探测器作为 HPGe 探测器的替代品，可以应用类似的方法来量化其他同位素。