Abstract
The mafic and ultramafic rocks of Mettupalayam belong to Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT), and it is prominent with economically valuable resources. The radiation shielding properties of the rock types, along with the remote sensing aspects, are considered in the study. The image processing techniques like Principal Component Analysis, Band ratio, Minimum Noise Fraction are performed using Landsat data to discriminate the litho units. The spectral characters derived from Landsat data identified with the significant absorptions of Fe2+, Fe3+and OPx. The Monte Carlo simulation was applied to evaluate the radiation protection ability of the studied rock samples. The examination showed a high shielding capacity for Gabbro rocks compared to the other studied rocks. The linear attenuation coefficient of the mentioned Gabbro rocks varied among 47.838 and 0.075 cm−1 when the gamma-ray energy increases in the energy interval 0.015 and 15 MeV. Moreover, the Radiation defensive capacity of the Gabbro samples decreased from 100 to 20.095% while the halve value layer increases from 0.014 to 9.269 cm with raising the gamma photon energy among 0.015 and 15 MeV, correspondingly.
•Advanced nuclear radiation shielding studies of Gabbro, Pyroxenite, and Metagabbro.•The Landsat data were utilized for this study for mapping the litho boundaries.•The significant oxides values were retrieved through the X-Ray Fluorescence method.•The narrow beam γ-ray transmission was performed employing the Monte Carlo simulation code.•Gabbro is a suitable material for radiation protection applications.