The demand for alternative sources of energy has been increasing day by day. In addition to titanium and zirconium, radiometric studies are mainly concerned with the search for uranium, thorium and potassium. There are about fifty naturally occurring radioactive isotopes. Instruments used to explore for radioactive minerals display the number of emission counts over a fixed period of time. The standard unit of gamma radiation is the Roentgen (R), which corresponds to the amount of radiation that produces approximately 2X10 power 15 ion pairs per cubic meter at standard temperature and pressure. Radiation anomalies would be expressed in terms of micro roentgens per hour. The Geiger-Muller counter, the scintillometer, the gamma ray spectrometer, the radon emanometer, etc. They are the main instruments used to study radioactive minerals.
Compared to other instruments, the Geiger-Muller counter is cheaper and easier to use, but its use is limited to terrestrial studies, as it responds only to beta-ray emissions. Detection chemicals, such as argon, water vapor, and alcohol or methane, are kept in a sealed glass tube.
The scintiometer is the most efficient and useful for measuring gamma radiation. The mechanism is that certain chemicals, such as thallium-treated sodium iodide and lithium-derived germanium, convert gamma rays into light energy, so they twinkle.
Radon is the gaseous radioactive element. It does not form compounds with other elements and therefore moves through various types of structural features such as faults, junctions, and also through underground pore spaces, either as a single gaseous element or dissolved in bodies of underground water. Radon is a product of the radioactive decay or decay of uranium, making it a useful guide for detecting deeper deposits of uranium. The radon-emanometer is also being used to map structural features such as faults that facilitate transport of formed radon to great depths.
Most of the radiometric studies are being carried out from the air. Radiometric data should be supplemented by data collected from magnetic and electromagnetic surveys. Depending on the size of the deposits, the speed of the helicopters may be altered. The height of the flight is usually about a hundred meters. The data collected is generally interpreted in qualitative terms.
Radiometric surveys are also very useful in geological mapping processes, since different lithological differences can be identified based on variations in their radioactive signatures.