Salisu Tata, Bello Yusuf Idi,Dauda Abubakar,Sadiq Abubakar Dalhatu, Mohammed Auwal Adamu

Keywords: Radioactivity, Land surface temperature, MODIS data, Arch GIS, radiation alert detector, Shira hills, Bauchi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Naturally occurring radioactive minerals in geologic formation within the rock matrix could lead to the conversion of the kinetic energy emitted from gamma rays into thermal energy. These results in generating high geothermal energy associated with radioactive rocks relative to non-radioactive formations. Excessive radiogenic heat formed due to high concentration of radioelement could affect the land surface temperature. Hence, the positive correlation between land surface temperature and radioactive dose is an indication for the effect of the radioactivity on the surface area. This study was carried out to investigate the relationship between land surface temperature and radioactivity of Shira hills, Bauchi state, Nigeria with the aim of assessing the impact of the gamma rays intensity on the surface of the studied area. Radiation alert inspector was used to measure the gamma rays intensity at different point (100 point) on the surface. The land surface temperature of the area was spatially mapped using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Land Surface Temperature (MODIS LST) data. The correlation between the measured gamma ray intensity and the land surface temperature was obtained to be 𝑅 2 = 0.007, which indicates that the radioactivity of Shira hills, Bauchi state, Nigeria has less or no significant impact to the surfaced environment.