Abstract
Granitic rocks constitute one of the most prevalent and economically significant lithologies, owing to their abundance, mechanical durability, and aesthetic appeal, which render them highly suitable as ornamental stones in architectural and construction applications. In recent years, extensive research efforts have been directed toward quantifying the radiological hazards posed by naturally occurring radioactive materials within these rocks, concerning their potential implications for human health and environmental safety when utilized in building materials. In the present study, a comprehensive radiometric investigation was conducted on 35 granitic rock samples of Wadi El-Nabi’ mining area, specifically El-Igl El-Ahmer monzo-syenogranites, to quantify the activity concentrations of principal radionuclides, including 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K, utilizing gamma spectrometry with a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. Furthermore, an array of radiological hazard indices was systematically calculated to evaluate the potential radiological risks associated with these granitoid specimens. Our findings indicate that the mean activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K in the monzogranite samples were 29 (± 6), 34 (± 6), and 883 (± 49) Bq/kg, respectively. In comparison, the syenogranite samples exhibited slightly elevated average values, measured at 31 (± 5), 35 (± 4), and 890 (± 9) Bq/kg for the corresponding radionuclides, reflecting a modest enrichment in radioactivity within the syenogranitic lithology. With respect to the radiological parameters, the results indicate that Dout, Din, AEDEin, ELCRout, ELCRin, Iγ, and AGDE for both monzogranite and syenogranite samples exceed the internationally recommended reference levels. Conversely, Raeq, AEDEout, Hex, and Hin remain within acceptable global thresholds. 232Th/226Ra (238U) ratios for the monzogranite and syenogranite samples range from 0.88 to 1.39 (mean 1.15 ± 0.14) and 0.88 to 1.41 (mean 1.14 ± 0.16), respectively. These values are markedly lower than the canonical crustal Th/Ra ratio of ~ 3.5, indicating post-magmatic hydrothermal alteration and selective uranium enrichment within the host granitoids. This radiological evidence is reinforced by remote sensing observations, which reveal characteristic alteration patterns, including kaolinization, sericitization, fluoritization, and silicification zones, that are spatially associated with the monzo-syenogranitic units, especially in the buffer location. Consequently, the granitic rocks in certain localized areas, particularly where radionuclide concentrations or radiological hazard indices exceed typical thresholds, may be considered unsuitable for use as construction materials.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated and analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.
References
Tzortzis, M. & Tsertos, H. Determination of thorium, uranium and potassium elemental concentrations in surface soils in Cyprus. J. Environ. Radioact. 77, 325–338 (2004).
Sandesh A, Vinutha PR, Kaliprasad CS, Narayana Y Evaluation of radiological hazards due to natural radionuclide in rocks and the dependence of radioactivity on the mineralogy of rocks in Udupi district on the south west coast of India. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 1–10 (2021)
Yadav, A. K. et al. Assessment of radionuclide concentration and radiation dose in rock in Singrauli Coalfield, India. J. Hazard. Toxic Radioact. Waste 24, 4019035 (2020).
Manjunatha, S., Jayasheelan, A. & Venkataramanaiah, P. Study of distribution of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K in different rock formations and their dose estimation in and around Chickmagalur, India. Int. J. Radiat. Res. 11, 183–187 (2013).
René M, Akitsu T (2017) Nature, sources, resources, and production of thorium. IntechOpen London
Hooda PS (2010) Trace elements in soils. Wiley Online Library
Foerster, H.-J. The chemical composition of REE-Y-Th-U-rich accessory minerals in peraluminous granites of the Erzgebirge-Fichtelgebirge region, Germany; Part I, The monazite-(Ce)-brabantite solid solution series. Am. Mineral 83, 259–272 (1998).
Abd El-Naby, H. H. High and low temperature alteration of uranium and thorium minerals, Um Ara granites, south Eastern Desert Egypt. Ore Geol. Rev. 35, 436–446 (2009).
Rogers, J. J. W., Condie, K. C. & Mahan, S. Significance of thorium, uranium and potassium in some early precambrian graywackes from wyoming and minnesota. Chem. Geol. 5, 207–213 (1970).
UNSCEAR (2000) Source Effects and Risks of Ionizing Radiation; Report to General Assembly with Scientific Annexes, United Nation, New York.
Karadeniz, Ö., Günalp, G., Özbay, T. & Demiral, A. N. Preliminary dose estimation from indoor radon for the medical staff of radiation oncology and nuclear medicine. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess An Int. J. 22, 1574–1582 (2016).
Kaur, M., Kumar, A., Mehra, R. & Mishra, R. Study of radon/thoron exhalation rate, soil-gas radon concentration, and assessment of indoor radon/thoron concentration in Siwalik Himalayas of Jammu \& Kashmir. Hum. Ecol. Risk Assess An. Int. J. 24, 2275–2287 (2018).
El-Arabi, A. M. 226Ra, 232Th and 40K concentrations in igneous rocks from eastern desert, Egypt and its radiological implications. Radiat. Meas. 42, 94–100 (2007).
UNSCEAR (2010) Sources and effects of ionizing radiation, united nations scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation (UNSCEAR) 2008 report, volume I: Report to the general assembly, with scientific annexes A and B-sources. United Nations
Al-Sharkawy, A., Hiekal, M. T., Sherif, M. I. & Badran, H. M. Environmental assessment of gamma-radiation levels in stream sediments around Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai Egypt. J. Environ. Radioact. 112, 76–82 (2012).
Quindos, L. S. et al. Building materials as source of exposure in houses. Indoor Air 87, 365 (1987).
Yalcin, F. et al. Estimation of natural radionuclides’ concentration of the plutonic rocks in the Sakarya zone Turkey using multivariate statistical methods. Symmetry 12, 1048 (2020).
Kochupillai, N., Verma, I. C., Grewal, M. S. & Ramalingaswami, V. Down’s syndrome and related abnormalities in an area of high background radiation in coastal Kerala. Nature 262, 60–61 (1976).
Heikal, M. T. S., Mahmoud, K. R., El-Sobky, T. & Top, G. Toward assessment the high gamma dose levels and relevant human health impacts from precambrian granites, Na’wah Area, Yemen Republic. Inter J. Env. Water 5, 1–12 (2016).
Heikal, M. T. S. et al. Geochemical and spectrometric characteristics of natural radioactivity levels (238-U, 232-Th, 40-K) of Monzo-Syenogranites from Wadi El-Nabi’Area, Egyptian Nubian Shield. Arab. J. Nucl. Sci. Appl. 55, 109–131 (2022).
Heikal, M. T. S. & Top, G. Assessment of radioactivity levels and potential radiation health hazards of Madsus granites and associated dikes nearby and around Ruwisat village, South Sinai Egypt. J. African Earth Sci. 146, 191–208 (2018).
Stern, R. J. et al. ° Distribution and significance of pre-neoproterozoic zircons in juvenile neoproterozoic igneous rocks of the arabian-nubian shield. Am. J. Sci. 310, 791–811 (2010).
Amin MS (1955) Geology and mineral deposits of Umm Rus sheet: Geol. Surv Egypt
Helba HA (1994) Geochemical prospecting for rare metals in Nuweibi area, central Eastern desert, Egypt. Egypt Alexandria Univ (Ph D thesis) 1–145
El-Ela, F. F. A. Geochemistry of an island-arc plutonic suite: Wadi Dabr intrusive complex, Eastern Desert Egypt. J. African Earth Sci. 24, 473–496 (1997).
Khashaba, S. M. A. et al. Application of remote sensing data integration in detecting mineralized granitic zones: A case study of the Gabal Al-Ijlah Al-Hamra, Central Eastern Desert Egypt. J. African Earth Sci. 200, 104855 (2023).
Heikal, M. T. S., El-Dosuky, B. T., Ghoneim, M. F. & Sherif, M. I. Natural radioactivity in basement rocks and stream sediments, Sharm El Sheikh Area, South Sinai, Egypt: Radiometric levels and their significant contributions. Arab. J. Geosci. 6, 3229–3239 (2013).
Heikal, M. T. S. et al. Insight on radiological risk assessment and its statistical evaluations for Abu Dabbab Albite granite mining area, Central Nubian Shield Egypt. Arab. J. Nucl. Sci. Appl. 51, 143–167 (2018).
Ramadan, R. S., Dawood, Y. H., Yehia, M. M. & Gad, A. Environmental and health impact of current uranium mining activities in southwestern Sinai Egypt. Environ. Earth Sci. 81, 213 (2022).
El-Wahed, A. Structural and metamorphic evolution of Wadi Dubur metasediments, central Eastern Desert Egypt. Ann. Geol. Surv. Egypt 26, 71 (2003).
Khedr, M. Z. et al. Genesis of rare metal granites in the Nubian shield: Tectonic control and magmatic and metasomatic processes. Minerals 14, 522 (2024).
Canberra Industries, USA G (2000) Spectroscopy Software, Operations V3.1 in 1 Apr 2003.
Moyo Ndontchueng M, Nguelem EJ, Motapon O, et al (2014) Radiological hazards in soil from the bauxite deposits sites in Dschang Region of Cameroon. Br J Appl Sci Technol
Povinec, P., Badie, C. & Baeza, A. Certified reference material for radionuclides in seawater IAEA-381 (Irish Sea Water). J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 251, 369–374 (2002).
Pszonicki L, Hanna AN, Suschny O (1984) Report on intercomparison IAEA/soil-7 of the determination of trace elements in soil
Torres Astorga, R., Rizzotto, M. G. & Velasco, H. Improving the efficiency in the detection of gamma activities in environmental soil samples: Influence of the granulometry and soil density. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 321, 805–814 (2019).
Chieco NA, Bogen DC, Knutson EO (1990) Environmental Measurements Laboratory (EML) Procedures Manual
Guembou Shouop, C. J. et al. Assessment of natural radioactivity and associated radiation hazards in sand building material used in Douala Littoral Region of Cameroon, using gamma spectrometry. Environ. Earth Sci. 76, 1–12 (2017).
Lenka, P. et al. Suitable gamma energy for gamma-spectrometric determination of 238U in surface soil samples of a high rainfall area in India. J. Environ. Radioact. 100, 509–514 (2009).
Papachristodoulou, C. A., Assimakopoulos, P. A., Patronis, N. E. & Ioannides, K. G. Use of HPGe $γ$-ray spectrometry to assess the isotopic compositiion of uranium in soils. J. Environ. Radioact. 64, 195–203 (2003).
Mahdy, N. M. et al. Lithological discrimination of the Fawakhir-Atalla belt in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt based on Landsat-9 remote sensing data, airborne gamma-ray spectrometry, field and petrographic investigations with implications on the evolution of the Arabian Nubian Shield. Phys. Chem. Earth Parts A/B/C 134, 103578 (2024).
Testa, F. J., Villanueva, C., Cooke, D. R. & Zhang, L. Lithological and hydrothermal alteration mapping of epithermal, porphyry and tourmaline breccia districts in the Argentine Andes using ASTER imagery. Remote Sens. 10, 203 (2018).
Crosta, A. P., De Souza Filho, C. R., Azevedo, F. & Brodie, C. Targeting key alteration minerals in epithermal deposits in Patagonia, Argentina, using ASTER imagery and principal component analysis. Int. J. Remote Sens. 24, 4233–4240 (2003).
Wambo, J. D. T. et al. Identifying high potential zones of gold mineralization in a sub-tropical region using Landsat-8 and ASTER remote sensing data: A case study of the Ngoura-Colomines goldfield, eastern Cameroon. Ore Geol. Rev. 122, 103530 (2020).
UNSCEAR (1982) Ionizing Radiation, Sources and Biological Effects, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 1982 Report: Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annexes. United Nations
Beretka, J. & Mathew, P. J. Natural radioactivity of Australian building materials, industrial wastes and by-products. Health Phys. 48, 87–95 (1985).
Hamideen, M. S. et al. Multivariate statistical investigations of natural radioactivity and radiological hazards in building materials mainly used in Amman Province, Jordan. Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem. 100, 189–203 (2020).
El Galy, M. M. et al. Distribution and environmental impacts of some radionuclides in sedimentary rocks at Wadi Naseib area, southwest Sinai Egypt. J. Environ. Radioact. 99, 1075–1082 (2008).
Kayo, S. A. et al. Multivariate statistical assessment of natural radioactivity and radiological hazards data of cement building materials mainly used in Cameroon. Arab. J. Geosci. 14, 1–12 (2021).
Senthilkumar, G. et al. Natural radioactivity measurement and evaluation of radiological hazards in some commercial flooring materials used in Thiruvannamalai, Tamilnadu, India. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 7, 116–122 (2014).
Al-Zahrani, J. H. Estimation of natural radioactivity in local and imported polished granite used as building materials in Saudi Arabia. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 10, 241–245 (2017).
Xinwei, L. Natural radioactivity in some building materials of Xi’an, China. Radiat. Meas. 40, 94–97 (2005).
Ravisankar, R. et al. Spatial distribution of gamma radioactivity levels and radiological hazard indices in the East Coastal sediments of Tamilnadu, India with statistical approach. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 103, 89–98 (2014).
ICRP. Protection against Radon-222 at home and at work. Issue. 65, 1–48 (1994).
Tanić, M. N. et al. Assessment of radiation exposure around abandoned uranium mining area of Stara planina Mt Serbia. Nucl. Technol. Radiat. Prot. 29, 58–66 (2014).
OCED (1979) Exposure to Radiation from the Natural Radioactivity in Building Materials: Report by a Group of Experts of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. OECD
Tufail, M. et al. Natural radioactivity hazards of building bricks fabricated from saline soil of two districts of Pakistan. J. Radiol. Prot 27, 481 (2007).
Asaduzzaman, K. et al. Assessment of natural radioactivity levels and potential radiological risks of common building materials used in Bangladeshi dwellings. PLoS ONE 10, e0140667 (2015).
Ehsan, M. S. et al. The activity concentration of radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) in soil samples and associated health hazards in Natore, Kushtia and Pabna district of Bangladesh. J. Bangladesh Acad. Sci. 43, 169–180 (2019).
Akpan, A. E., Paul, N. D. & Uwah, E. J. Ground radiometric investigation of natural radiation levels and their radiological effects in Akpabuyo, Nigeria. J. African Earth Sci. 123, 185–192 (2016).
Al-Trabulsy, H. A., Khater, A. E. M. & Habbani, F. I. Radioactivity levels and radiological hazard indices at the Saudi coastline of the Gulf of Aqaba. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 80, 343–348 (2011).
Darwish, D. A. E., Abul-Nasr, K. T. M. & El-Khayatt, A. M. The assessment of natural radioactivity and its associated radiological hazards and dose parameters in granite samples from South Sinai Egypt. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 8, 17–25 (2015).
Uosif, M. A. M., Issa, S. A. M. & Abd El-Salam, L. M. Measurement of natural radioactivity in granites and its quartz-bearing gold at El-Fawakhir area (Central Eastern Desert) Egypt. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 8, 393–398 (2015).
Miller B, Lind A, Savage D, et al (2002) Natural elemental concentrations and fluxes: Their use as indicators of repository safety
Allègre, C. J., Dupré, B. & Lewin, E. Thorium/uranium ratio of the Earth. Chem. Geol. 56, 219–227 (1986).
Tzortzis, M., Svoukis, E. & Tsertos, H. A comprehensive study of natural gamma radioactivity levels and associated dose rates from surface soils in Cyprus. Radiat. Prot. Dosimetry 109, 217–224 (2004).
Wang, Y. Comparison of element abundance between the exposed crust of the continent of China and the global averaged upper continental crust: Constraints on crustal evolution and some speculations. Front. Earth Sci. China 1, 69–79 (2007).
UNSCEAR (1993) Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 1993 Report: Report to the General Assembly, with Scientific Annexes. United Nations
UNSCEAR (2008) Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) 2011. United Nations
Papadopoulos, A. et al. Geochemistry of uranium and thorium and natural radioactivity levels of the western Anatolian plutons Turkey. Miner. Petrol 111(6), 77–691 (2017).
Oladejo, O. F. et al. Radiological risk assessment of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS) from selected quarry sites in Edo State, South-south, Nigeria. Environ. Earth Sci. 79, 1–8 (2020).
Xinwei, L., Lingqing, W. & Xiaodan, J. Radiometric analysis of Chinese commercial granites. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 267, 669–673 (2006).
Zaidi, J. H. et al. Determination of natural radioactivity in building materials used in the Rawalpindi/Islamabad area by $γ$-ray spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 51, 559–564 (1999).
Onwuka, M., Ononugbo, C. P. & Avwiri, G. O. Radiation organ doses and excess lifetime cancer risk due to exposure to gamma radiation from two cement industries in Nigeria. J. Sci. Res. Rep. 25, 1–12 (2019).
Rybach, L. Radioactive heat production in rocks and its relation to other petrophysical parameters. Pure Appl. Geophys. 114, 309–317 (1976).
Abbady, A. G. E., El-Arabi, A. M. & Abbady, A. Heat production rate from radioactive elements in igneous and metamorphic rocks in Eastern Desert Egypt. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 64, 131–137 (2006).
McCay, A. T. et al. Gamma-ray spectrometry in geothermal exploration: State of the art techniques. Energies 7, 4757–4780 (2014).
Malczewski, D., Teper, L. & Dorda, J. Assessment of natural and anthropogenic radioactivity levels in rocks and soils in the environs of Swieradow Zdroj in Sudetes, Poland, by in situ gamma-ray spectrometry. J. Environ. Radioact. 73, 233–245 (2004).
Hanfi, M. Y., Masoud, M. S., Ambrosino, F. & Mostafa, M. Y. A. Natural radiological characterization at the Gabal El Seila region (Egypt). Appl. Radiat. Isot. 173, 109705 (2021).
EPA (2011) Radiogenic Cancer Risk Models and Projections for the US Population
Walker GW (1956) Host rocks and their alterations as related to uranium-bearing veins in the United States. US Department of the Interior, Geological Survey
René, M. Alteration of granitoids and uranium mineralization in the Blatná suite of the central Bohemian plutonic complex Czech Republic. Minerals 10, 821 (2020).
Arafa, W. Specific activity and hazards of granite samples collected from the Eastern Desert of Egypt. J. Environ. Radioact. 75, 315–327 (2004).
El-Shershaby, A. Study of radioactivity levels in granite of Gable Gattar II in the north eastern desert of Egypt. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 57, 131–135 (2002).
El-Gamal, H., Sidique, E. & El-Haddad, M. Spatial distributions and risk assessment of the natural radionuclides in the granitic rocks from the Eastern Desert Egypt. Minerals 9, 386 (2019).
Khaleal, F. M. et al. Assessing environmental and radiological impacts and lithological mapping of beryl-bearing rocks in Egypt using high-resolution sentinel-2 remote sensing images. Sci. Rep. 13, 11497 (2023).
Heikal, M. T. S. et al. Evaluation Of gamma activity concentrations (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) and related potential radiological risks in granitic rocks from nuweibi mining area, Egyptian Nubian shield. Arab. J. Nucl. Sci. Appl. 55, 79–91 (2022).
El Saeed, R. L. et al. Mineralogical constituents and radioactivity analysis of commercial granitic ornamental stones: Assessing suitability and radiation safety. J. Radiat. Res. Appl. Sci. 16, 100618 (2023).
Chen, C.-J. & Lin, Y.-M. Assessment of building materials for compliance with regulations of ROC. Environ. Int. 22, 221–226 (1996).
Tzortzis, M., Tsertos, H., Christofides, S. & Christodoulides, G. Gamma radiation measurements and dose rates in commercially-used natural tiling rocks (granites). J. Environ. Radioact. 70, 223–235 (2003).
Minager MT, Heath MJ, Ivanovich M, et al (1993) Migration of uranium from uranium-mineralised fractures into the rock matrix in granite: implication for radionuclide transport around a radioactive waste repository. In: 4th International Conference of Chemistry and Migration Behaviour of Actinides and Fission Products in the Geosphere (Migration 1993). Radiochimica Acta. pp 47–83
Örgün, Y. et al. Natural radioactivity levels in granitic plutons and groundwaters in Southeast part of Eskisehir, Turkey. Appl Radiat Isot 63, 267–275 (2005).
Asghar, M. et al. Radiological implications of granite of northern Pakistan. J. Radiol. Prot. 28, 387 (2008).
Papadopoulos, A. et al. Radioactivity of granitic rocks from Northern Greece. Bull. Geol. Soc. Greece 43, 2680–2691 (2010).
Karavasili E, Christofides G, Papastefanou C, et al (2005) Mineralogy, Petrography and Radioactivity of Greek Granites. In: Proceedings of the 2nd Congress of the Committee of the Economic Geology, Mineralogy \& Geochemistry of the Geological Society of Greece, Thessaloniki. pp 123–132
Acknowledgements
The authors thank (in depth) to Dr. Gulcan Top. Independent Researcher, Turkey for her constructive help in statistical analysis of the radioactivity concentrations and their risk parameters. Great thanks to NASA and USGS for providing the data, and for the University of Debrecen for their support.
Funding
Open access funding provided by University of Debrecen. This work was supported by the University of Debrecen Program for Scientific Publication. Aya S. Shereif received funding from the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship, a joint executive program between Hungary and Egypt.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization, Aya S. Shereif and Mohamed Heikal; Methodology, Aya S. Shereif; Software, Aya S. Shereif; Validation, Aya S. Shereif, Árpád Csámer, Ahmed El Shabasy and Ahmed Masoud; Formal analysis, Ahmed El Shabasy; Investigation, Árpád Csámer; Resources, Aya S. Shereif and Ahmed El Shabasy; Data curation, Aya S. Shereif, Árpád Csámer, Mohamed Heikal and Abdel Salam Abu El Ela; Writing the original draft preparation, Aya S. Shereif, Mohamed Heikal, Abdel Salam Abu El Ela and Ahmed Masoud; Writing—review and editing, Árpád Csámer, Aya S. Shereif and Mohamed Heikal; Visualization, Aya S. Shereif, Ahmed El Shabasy and Ahmed Masoud; Supervision, Mohamed Heikal, Abdel Salam Abu El Ela and Árpád Csámer; Project administration, Árpád Csámer; Funding acquisition, Árpád Csámer. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing ınterests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Shereif, A.S., Heikal, M.T.S., El Ela, A.S.A. et al. Gamma activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, 40K, and health hazard assessments of granites from Wadi El-Nabi’ mining area, Egyptian Nubian Shield. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39664-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39664-4
