A Correlation Assessment of 222Rn Gas Measurements from the East Anatolian Fault Zone

Year 2020, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 77 - 84, 06.12.2020

Mücahit Yılmaz , Mehmet Gürcan , Yunus Güral

Abstract

Factors affecting the diffusion of radon (222Rn) gas from the soil to the atmosphere have been examined in many studies. 222Rn gas emission depends on the geological structure and meteorological parameters of a given region, and 222Rn gas concentration is one of the precursors of earthquakes. In addition, it is an important gas in terms of health, because it can cause lung cancer. In this study, comprehensive statistical analyses of 222Rn data was carried out on soil samples obtained from 16 stations located in the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) in Turkey, and the 222Rn characteristics of the region were investigated. A daily average of the data was taken between 2007 and 2010. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine whether 222Rn emissions in the study area varied according to the year and the station. Binary comparisons were made by grouping the 222Rn data measured at the stations annually and significant results were obtained.

Keywords

Rn-222, Radon Anomaly, East Anatolian Fault Zone, EAFZ

Supporting Institution

TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center

Thanks

We would like to thank TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center for its contribution in obtaining and compiling the data used in this study.

References

• Referans1 Durrani, S., A., Ilić, R., 1997. Radon Measurements by Etched Track Detectors, World Scientific, Singapore.
• Referans2 Papachristodoulou, C., Stamoulis, K. & Ioannides, K., 2020. Temporal Variation of Soil Gas Radon Associated with Seismic Activity: A Case Study in NW Greece. Pure Appl. Geophys. 177, 821–836. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-019-02339-5
• Referans3 Esan, D.T., Sridhar, M.K.C., Obed, R. et al., 2020. Determination of Residential Soil Gas Radon Risk Indices over the Lithological Units of a Southwestern Nigeria University. Sci Rep 10, 7368. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64217-8
• Referans4 Morales-Simfors, N., Wyss, R., A., Bundschuh, J., 2020. Recent progress in radon-based monitoring as seismic and volcanic precursor: A critical review, Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 50:10, 979-1012, DOI: 10.1080/10643389.2019.1642833
• Referans5 Kulali, F., Akkurt, I., Özgür, N., 2017. The effect of meteorological parameters on radon concentration in soil gas, Acta Physica Polonica A, 132 (3), pp. 999-1001.
• Referans6 Baldev R. Arora, Arvind Kumar, Vivek Walia, Tsanyao Frank Yang, Ching-Chou Fu, Tsung-Kwei Liu, Kuo-Liang Wen, Cheng-Hong Chen, 2017. Assesment of the response of the meteorological/hydrological parameters on the soil gas radon emission at Hsinchu, northern Taiwan: A prerequisite to identify earthquake precursors, Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, Volume 149, Pages 49-63, ISSN 1367-9120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.06.033.
• Referans7 Ćujić, M., Janković Mandić, L., Petrović, J. et al., 2020. Radon-222: environmental behavior and impact to (human and non-human) biota. International Journal of Biometeorology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-020-01860-w
• Referans8 Okabe, S., 1956. Time Variation of the Atmospheric Radon Content Near the Ground Surface with Relation to Some Geophysical Phenomena. Memoirs of the College of Science, Kyoto Imperial University, Series A, 28, 99-115. Referans9 King, C.Y., 1986. Gas Geochemistry Applied to Earthquake prediction: An Overview, Journal of Geophysical Research, 91, 12269–12281.
• Referans10 King, C.Y., Luo, G., 1990. Variations of Electric Resistance and H2 and Rn Emissions of Concrete Blocks Under Increasing Uniaxial Compression, Pure and Applied Geophysics, 134, 45–56.
• Referans11 King, C. Y., King, B. S., Evans, W. C., 1995, Spatial Radon Anomalies on Active Faults in California, Applied Geochemistry, 11, 497-510.
• Referans12 Ghosh, D., Deb, A., Sengupta, R., 2009. Anomalous radon emission as precursor of earthquake, Journal of Applied Geophysics, 69, pp. 67-81.
• Referans13 Zmazek, B., Vaupotič, J., Živčić, M., Premru, U., Kobal, I., 2020. Radon monitoring for earthquake prediction in Slovenia, Fiz B, 9, pp. 111-118, 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137857.
• Referans14 Riggio, A., SAntulin, M., 2015. Earthquake forecasting: a review of radon as seismic precursor, Bollettino di Geofisica Teorica ed Applicata, Vol. 56, n. 2, pp. 95-114.
• Referans15 Piersanti, A., Cannelli, V., Galli, G., 2015. Long term continuous radon monitoringin a seismically active area, Annals of Geophysics, 58, 4.
• Referans16 Chen, Z., Li, Y., Liu, Z. et al., 2018. Radon emission from soil gases in the active fault zones in the Capital of China and its environmental effects. Sci Rep 8, 16772. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35262-1
• Referans17 Atabey, E., 2000. Deprem, Maden Teknik ve Arama Genel Müdürlüğü, 34, Ankara.
• Referans18 Arpat, E, Şaroğlu, F., 1972. The East Anatolian Fault System; Thoughts on its Development . Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration , 78 (78) , 1-12 .