14.1 Introduction
Tourist activities on the seaside, but not exclusively, are dependent of the quality of
the environmental components from the coastal zone. In marine ecosystem, the
basic components are the water and the substrate. This importance is supported, on
the other hand, by their role in its life and functionality. Measurements of the
radioactivity of sediments give data of distribution in the marine ecosystem and for
the risk assessment (Chiosila et al. 2012). Setting-up and maintaining a database is
necessary to evaluate the state of the environment quality and its trends. A complex
correlation study may reveal new knowledge, considering other environmental
factors, such as hydrodynamics, chemicals and their influence on biota (Nicolaev
et al. 2015). The Na ˘vodari – Mamaia area was taken as a case study, beeing now
involved in a rehabilitation plan of the coast.
Data presented in this paper were obtained in the frame of the BS ERA NET
041 Project, from Black Sea ERA NET Pilot Joint Call 2010/2011, under FP7
European Program.
14.2 Materials and Methods
The samples were taken from Mamaia beaches, central positioned in Romanian
littoral at Black Sea. In laboratory the samples were dried (105 Celsius degrees) and
weighted. Seven profiles (transects MM1 up to MM7) were chosen along the beach,
for each taking a set of samples from the shore and from the water. Those are
emerged sediments, from upper beach (limit of vegetation-UB), medium beach
(middle beach-MB), interface (front of water-I), and submerged sediments, from
1 m, 3 m, 5 m, 7 m, 10 m and even 12 m. Separately, granulometric measurements
of the samples have been performed (Diaconeasa 2017). The parameters used to
describe a grain size distribution can be summarised into four main categories, that
is: mean, refers to the average grain size; sorting, refers to the uniformity of grain
size in a sediment; skewness, that is the degree of asymmetry of a frequency or
cumulative curve; kurtosis, that is the degree of peakedness or departure from the
“normal” frequency or cumulative curve.
The investigation of the radioactivity was performed by IFIN-HH, coordinator
of the “RACE” BS ERA NET 041 Project, using the facilities of Slanic Prahova
Low – Background Radiation Laboratory (SPLBRL) (Margineanu et al. 2008). The
measurements were performed by a gamma spectrometry system using HPGe
detector (FWHM of 1.77 keV/1332.4 keV and a relative efficiency of 22.3%),
InSpectorTM 2000 electronic module and GENIE2000 spectrum acquisition and
processing software. Gamma spectra were recorded for 85,000 s for samples up to
130 g of sand, sealed in cylindrical plastic boxes (75 mm diameter, 1 mm wall
thickness, 40 mm high).
234
V. Pa ˘tras ¸cu et al.
Tourist activities on the seaside, but not exclusively, are dependent of the quality of
the environmental components from the coastal zone. In marine ecosystem, the
basic components are the water and the substrate. This importance is supported, on
the other hand, by their role in its life and functionality. Measurements of the
radioactivity of sediments give data of distribution in the marine ecosystem and for
the risk assessment (Chiosila et al. 2012). Setting-up and maintaining a database is
necessary to evaluate the state of the environment quality and its trends. A complex
correlation study may reveal new knowledge, considering other environmental
factors, such as hydrodynamics, chemicals and their influence on biota (Nicolaev
et al. 2015). The Na ˘vodari – Mamaia area was taken as a case study, beeing now
involved in a rehabilitation plan of the coast.
Data presented in this paper were obtained in the frame of the BS ERA NET
041 Project, from Black Sea ERA NET Pilot Joint Call 2010/2011, under FP7
European Program.
14.2 Materials and Methods
The samples were taken from Mamaia beaches, central positioned in Romanian
littoral at Black Sea. In laboratory the samples were dried (105 Celsius degrees) and
weighted. Seven profiles (transects MM1 up to MM7) were chosen along the beach,
for each taking a set of samples from the shore and from the water. Those are
emerged sediments, from upper beach (limit of vegetation-UB), medium beach
(middle beach-MB), interface (front of water-I), and submerged sediments, from
1 m, 3 m, 5 m, 7 m, 10 m and even 12 m. Separately, granulometric measurements
of the samples have been performed (Diaconeasa 2017). The parameters used to
describe a grain size distribution can be summarised into four main categories, that
is: mean, refers to the average grain size; sorting, refers to the uniformity of grain
size in a sediment; skewness, that is the degree of asymmetry of a frequency or
cumulative curve; kurtosis, that is the degree of peakedness or departure from the
“normal” frequency or cumulative curve.
The investigation of the radioactivity was performed by IFIN-HH, coordinator
of the “RACE” BS ERA NET 041 Project, using the facilities of Slanic Prahova
Low – Background Radiation Laboratory (SPLBRL) (Margineanu et al. 2008). The
measurements were performed by a gamma spectrometry system using HPGe
detector (FWHM of 1.77 keV/1332.4 keV and a relative efficiency of 22.3%),
InSpectorTM 2000 electronic module and GENIE2000 spectrum acquisition and
processing software. Gamma spectra were recorded for 85,000 s for samples up to
130 g of sand, sealed in cylindrical plastic boxes (75 mm diameter, 1 mm wall
thickness, 40 mm high).
234
V. Pa ˘tras ¸cu et al.