Abstract
The activity concentration of terrestrial (Ra-226, Th-232, and K-40) and anthropogenic gamma-emitting radionuclide (Cs-137) have been analyzed in 48 soil samples collected from Gilgit a famous city for mountaineers and tourists in northern Pakistan, at an average altitude or 1,550 in, using gamma-ray spectrometry. The data analysis includes descriptive statistics, radium equivalent activity and its principal component analysis, air absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, and collective effective dose equivalent. It is found that the level of cosmic exposure is high in Gilgit relative to the world average values, but the average outdoor annual effective dose rate from terrestrial radionuclides is lower as compared to its value in the soil of Punjab, Pakistan, and the world average values found in United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) for the general public. The median cultural effective dose rate produced by Cs-137 was 0.11 mu Sv y(-1). Health Phys. 98(Supplement 2):S69-S75; 2010