Articles | Volume 4, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-213-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-213-2022
Short communication/technical note
 | 
14 Apr 2022
Short communication/technical note |  | 14 Apr 2022

Technical note: Quantifying uranium-series disequilibrium in natural samples for dosimetric dating – Part 1: gamma spectrometry

Barbara Mauz, Paul J. Nolan, Sumia Abdualhadi, and Peter G. Appleby
Editorial note: Sumia Abdualhadi was added as co-author to this article on 23 March 2026 to acknowledge their contribution to the work.

Cited articles

Abdualhadi, S. A.: Quantifying disequilibrium in U-series decay using high-purity germanium spectrometry, PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3004531/ (last access: 3 April 2022), 2016. 
Abdualhadi, S. A., Mauz, B., Joss, S. D. T, and Nolan, P.: Detecting and quantifying uranium-series disequilibrium in natural samples for dosimetric dating applications, Radiat. Meas., 114, 25–31, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2018.04.011, 2018. 
Aguiar, J. C., Galiano, E., and Fernandez, J.: Peak efficiency calibration for attenuation corrected cylindrical sources in gamma ray spectrometry by the use of a point source, Appl. Radiat. Isotopes, 64, 1643–1647, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2006.05.014, 2006. 
Appleby P. G., Richardson, N., and Nolan, P. J.: Self-absorption corrections for well-type germanium detectors, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B, 71, 228–233, 1992. 
Barrera, M., Suarez-Llorens, A., Casas-Ruiz, M., Alonso, J. J., and Vidal, J.: Theoretical determination of gamma spectrometry systems efficiency based on probability functions, Application to self-attenuation correction factors, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A, 854, 31–39, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.052, 2017. 
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Short summary
It is of critical importance to dosimetric dating techniques that the quantity of the radiation dose is estimated accurately. Here we describe gamma spectrometry in terms of instrument, measurement procedures, and data analyses required for estimating parent nuclide activities. The description includes analytical procedures required to generate data with sufficient accuracy and precision for samples in secular equilibrium. We also outline procedures required to quantify disequilibrium.
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