Seasonal variations in soil radon emanation: Long-term continuous monitoring in light of seismicity


İnan S., Kop A., ÇETİN H., Kulak F., Pabuçcu Z., Seyis C., ...More

Natural Hazards, vol.62, no.2, pp.575-591, 2012 (SCI-Expanded) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 62 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2012
  • Doi Number: 10.1007/s11069-012-0096-6
  • Journal Name: Natural Hazards
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.575-591
  • Keywords: Continuous monitoring, Dead Sea Fault system, Earthquake precursor, East Anatolian Fault system, East Mediterranean Province, Meteorological effects, Semi-annual variations, Soil radon, Southern Turkey
  • Hakkari University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Soil gas radon release patterns have been monitored continuously for more than 3 years in the Eastern Mediterranean Province (EMP) (Southern Turkey), alongside regional seismic events, providing a multidisciplinary approach. In the period from January 2008 to January 2011, 14 earthquakes M L ≥4 occurred in the study area. By monitoring the sites for more than 3 years, the site-characteristic patterns of soil radon emanation of each site have become evident. Radon emanation data show seasonal (semi-annual) variation characteristics; high soil radon values are between May and October and low soil radon values are between November and April. With available rainfall data, the soil gas radon data can be more reliably evaluated. It is shown in this paper that if radon emanation data are available over sufficiently long periods of time and baseline data (and their seasonal variations) are known with certainty for each monitoring site, then the observation of positive anomalies might provide a correlation or connection to seismic activity. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.