Analysis of the influence of uranium and associated minerals in the aquifers of the northern area of Mexico using a geographic information system

Certain environmental factors such as weathering, lithology, evapotranspiration and geochemical reactions give rise to the release of unstable isotopes that produce alpha, beta and gamma emissions, among which are radionuclides from the decay series of Uranium (U) and Thorium (Th) that through leaching processes can become diluted in the uses. The objective of this research was to fill this gap through the spatial analysis of the physical-chemical characteristics of the uses and generate cartographic inputs that facilitate monitoring and decision-making for the management of water resources, in addition to laying the foundations for the development of environmental risk analysis, potential exposure of different population groups and decision making for water resource management. The study area was delimited from the regions with uranium deposits in northern Mexico and a universe of 1,190 exploitations distributed throughout the national territory. Once the area was delimited, an exploratory analysis of spatial data was carried out to identify the location of clusters and a GWR of the spatial distribution of the total alpha and total beta variables. With these preliminary results, the ABC Laboratories, CONAGUA and the ININ proceeded to make measurements of the uses of interest identified in the clusters, checking the spatial distribution of the total alpha and beta emitters in accordance with what was predicted by the Exploratory Analysis of Spatial Data. With the data provided by the ABC Laboratory, CONAGUA and the ININ, in addition to other variables that were added after consulting the available literature and specialists, an interpolation was carried out and the linear correlation coefficient was obtained, which showed the non-existence of correlation between the presence of total alpha and beta issuers with respect to the analyzed variables. (author)