Radon measurements in the soils of Nongstoin and Mairang regions of West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya

Study on radium in soil samples collected from different location of Nongstoin and Mairang area of West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya, India have been carried using 'Can Technique'. The radium content of the soil samples collected from Nongstoin was found to vary from 4.72 to 16.39 Bq.kg^-1 with an arithmetic mean value of 9.28±2.99 Bq.kg^-1 and a geometric mean value of 8.80±1.38 Bq.kg^-1. In Mairang, the radium content values was found to vary from 13.51 to 33.42 Bq.kg^-1 with an arithmetic mean value of 23.64±5.61 Bq.kg^-1 and a geometric mean value of 22.98±1.27 Bq.kg^-1. The alpha index values (I_á) have also been calculated and it is found that the values range between 0.02 and 0.08 for Nongstoin and between 0.07 and 0.17 for Mairang. (author)