Novel determination of radon‐222 velocity in deep subsurface rocks and the feasibility to using radon as an earthquake precursor

Abstract

AbstractA novel technique utilizing simultaneous radon monitoring by gamma and alpha detectors to differentiate between the radon climatic driving forces and others has been improved and used for deep subsurface investigation. Detailed long‐term monitoring served as a proxy for studying radon movement within the shallow and deep subsurface, as well as for analyzing the effect of various parameters of the radon transport pattern. The main achievements of the investigation are (a) determination, for the first time, of the radon movement velocity within rock layers at depths of several tens of meters, namely, 25 m/h on average; (b) distinguishing between the diurnal periodical effect of the ambient temperature and the semidiurnal effect of the ambient pressure on the radon temporal spectrum; and (c) identification of a radon random preseismic anomaly preceding the Nuweiba, M 5.5 earthquake of 27 June 2015 that occurred within Dead Sea Fault Zone.