Abstract
This study was conducted to examine the relationship between 222Rn/220Rn activity concentration in soil gas and proxies within each soil type in Johor state, Malaysia, and identify the best possible predictor of 222Rn/220Rn in soil gas. In this paper, we present the result of correlation analysis between measured 222Rn/220Rn in soil gas and soil gas permeability, geogenic radon potential, 222Rn/220Rn in outdoor air, and terrestrial gamma dose, as well as the recorded relative humidity and temperature during measurement. The measured 222Rn and 220Rn in soil gas were found to have a positive correlation with the soil gas permeability measured within the study area, except for the data measured in a region covered with the marine alluvium and peat soils where a negative and very weak correlation was observed between 220Rn in soil gas and (Rn220S) and sol gas permeability, respectively. Measurement over four soil types (from granitic rocks, soils from metamorphic and sedimentary rocks, soils of steep lands, and soils of urban and mined land) reveals that the terrestrial gamma dose rate is a possible predictor of 220Rn in soil gas. In addition, in a region covered with a soil of steep lands and soils of urban and mined lands, 222Rn and 220Rn in outdoor air were found to be good indicators of 222Rn and 220Rn in soil gas. The result of principal component analysis yields a four-component representation of the total data acquired with 71% of the total variance explained, while the dendrogram of the resulting hierarchical cluster analysis categorizes the measured data into four clusters which are in good agreement with the result of principal component analysis.
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The corresponding author would like to express gratitude to the management of the Federal College of Education Zaria for providing a study fund under TEDFUND special intervention.
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Haruna, R., Saleh, M.A. & Hashim, S. Radon and thoron activity concentration in soil gas of Johor state: a statistical relationship with proxies. Arab J Geosci 16, 323 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11406-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11406-0