Application of short-time activation analysis to soil analysis to geochemical prospecting

The advantages of short-time activation analysis are: a possibility of getting the final results almost on-line, avoiding a special preparation of the samples, multi-element and nondestructive determination. A large number of samples can be characterized very fast, and then the most interesting samples can be chosen for further precise investigation. The greatest disadvantage is connected to the fact that three so-called main elements, which are always present in geological materials, have a relatively high cross section, and their activity is dominating the spectra. Al-27 gives very high Compton level in the time interval from seconds to several minutes, Mn-56 dominates the spectra from several tens minutes to few hours, and after few hours Na-24 is responsible for Compton continuum. Nevertheless 8 to 11 elements are always detectable. Roughly 10 other elements are detectable as well in geochemical prospecting, when a fast evaluation of a deposit composition is required