Calculation of Radiogenic Heat Productions from Marble and Glazed Tiles Used as Covering Building Materials in Turkey

Abstract

Covering or decorative building materials derived from rock and soil include primordial radionuclides such as ²³⁸U and ²³²Th series, and potassium radioisotope (⁴⁰K) varying from one country to another and from one location to another in the same country. The kinetic energy of radiation emitted from these radionuclides in the covering building materials like other building materials are sources of radiogenic heat. Marble tiles are commonly used as wall and floor covering, facing materials for buildings, kitchen counter- top, vanity tops and inner and outer decorative materials because of their appearance, attractive colours, polished surface and durability against external conditions and high resistance to wear. In this study, radiogenic heat productions of marble and glazed tiles samples are calculated based on the elemental concentrations of uranium (in terms of mg/kg), thorium (in terms of mg/kg) and potassium (in terms of %) in the samples collected from various provinces in Turkey.  The radiogenic heat productions from the marble tile samples varied from 0.05 to 2.17 µW/m³ with an average of 0.26 µW/m³. The average the radiogenic heat production of the marble tile samples is approximately four times lower than the average continental crust of 0.9 µW/m³.

Keywords

• Marble,Radiogenic heat production,Building materials

References

1. 1. McKenna T.E., Sharp I.M. 1998. Radiogenic heat production in sedimentary rocks of the Gulf of Mexico Basin, South Texas. AAPG Bulletin, 82 (3): 484–496.
2. 2. Clauser, C. 2011. Radiogenic heat production of rocks. In: Harsh Gupta (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Gophysics, 2nd ed., Springer, Dordrecht, preprint.
3. 3. UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation). 2000. Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. United Nations Publication, New York, USA.
4. 4. Turhan Ş., Varinlioğlu, A. 2012. Radioactivity measurement of primordial radionuclides in and dose evaluation from marble and glazed tiles used as covering building materials in Turkey. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 151(3): 546-555.
5. 5. Rybach, L. 1988. Determination of heat production rate. In: Haenel, R., Rybach, L., Stegena, L. (Eds.), Handbook of Terrestrial Heat-Flow Density Determination. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp.125–142.
6. 6. Yaroshevsky A.A. 2006. Abundance of chemical elements in the earth’s crust. Geochemistry International, 44(1): 54-62.
7. 7. Abbady A.G.E. El-Arabi A.M., Abbady A. 2004. Heat production rate from radioactive elements in igneous and metamorphic rocks in Eastern Desert, Egypt. VII Radiation Physics & Protection Conference, pp. 287-294, 27-30 November 2004, Ismailia-Egypt.