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Study of Trace Elements in Water Bodies of the Harz Mts. Region, Germany using Total Reflection X Ray Fluorescence (TXRF)

February 2015

February 2015

Conference: DAE-BRNS 12th National Symposium on Nuclear and Radiochemistry NUCAR 2015, Feb. 9-13, Mumbai, India
At: Mumbai, India

Authors:

Alok Srivastava

Panjab University

Friedhart Knolle

UNESCO Global Geopark Harz . Braunschweiger Land . Ostfalen

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ulrich W. Scherer

Hochschule Mannheim

Harz Mts. region in the Germany states of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia is known for its heavy metal mines as well as smelting industry active since more than 3000 years. Trace elements like S, Cu, Zn, Sr, Pb, Br and Ti could be detected along with some normal elements, however U was not observed, although the Brocken granite contains 14 ppm U. The concentration of the elements which could be identified in the water samples was in general found to be within the permissible limits. It was further observed that there was an increase of two to ten times in the concentration of elements when the upstream data of Oker River was compared with that of its downstream from the Oker smelter complex.

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