Predictive modelling of Uranium (238U) and Thorium (232Th) in soils of Central India: integrating ICP-MS/MS, spectroscopic, and machine learning models
摘要
Global Positioning System (GPS) based 2216 surface soil (0–15 cm) samples were collected across the Kymore Plateau and Satpura hill zone of Madhya Pradesh, India using multi-layer sampling strategy to ensure spatial representativeness. The concentrations of Uranium (238U) and Thorium (232Th) were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) with spectral data acquired through a Spectro-radiometer. The 238U concentrations ranged from 0.15 to 852.15 ppb (mean: 94.92 ppb), while 232Th ranged from 0.06 to 1385.06 ppb (mean: 71.73 ppb). Soil pH exhibited a positive correlation with 238U and a negative correlation with ²³²Th. Several machine learning (ML) models were evaluated for prediction, including Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), Support Vector Regression(SVR), Random Forest (RF), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM), Categorical Boosting (CatBoost) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), the ANN demonstrated the balanced and robust performance. For 238U, ANN achieved a testing coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.36 (