SOIL WATER CONTENT FROM GAMMA RAY ATTENUATION: A COMPARISON OF IONIZATION CHAMBER AND SCINTILLATION DETECTORS

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Abstract
Scintillation detection systems are commonly used to measure gamma ray attenuation by soil in the determination of its water content. The performance of a specially designed ionization chamber detector and electrometer was evaluated relative to that of a commercially available scintillation system. Quantitative assessments were made of the absorption coefficients of water, equipment response times, stabilities, accuracies and costs for the two systems. The ionization chamber showed a constant absorption coefficient and gave greater combined accuracy and response time as well as better stability with respect to both time and temperature. Although it was not entirely commercially available, the ion chamber system employed simpler electronic components and was both easier to operate and less expensive to purchase and maintain than was the scintillation system.