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Correlating Precursory Declines in Groundwater Radon with Earthquake Magnitude
Author(s) -
Kuo T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/gwat.12049
Subject(s) - magnitude (astronomy) , radon , seismology , geology , earthquake magnitude , aquifer , groundwater , hot spring , spring (device) , crust , fault (geology) , earthquake prediction , hydrology (agriculture) , geochemistry , geotechnical engineering , mechanical engineering , physics , geometry , mathematics , engineering , quantum mechanics , astronomy , scaling
Both studies at the Antung hot spring in eastern Taiwan and at the Paihe spring in southern Taiwan confirm that groundwater radon can be a consistent tracer for strain changes in the crust preceding an earthquake when observed in a low‐porosity fractured aquifer surrounded by a ductile formation. Recurrent anomalous declines in groundwater radon were observed at the Antung D1 monitoring well in eastern Taiwan prior to the five earthquakes of magnitude ( M w ): 6.8, 6.1, 5.9, 5.4, and 5.0 that occurred on December 10, 2003; April 1, 2006; April 15, 2006; February 17, 2008; and July 12, 2011, respectively. For earthquakes occurring on the longitudinal valley fault in eastern Taiwan, the observed radon minima decrease as the earthquake magnitude increases. The above correlation has been proven to be useful for early warning local large earthquakes. In southern Taiwan, radon anomalous declines prior to the 2010 M w 6.3 Jiasian, 2012 M w 5.9 Wutai, and 2012 M L 5.4 Kaohsiung earthquakes were also recorded at the Paihe spring. For earthquakes occurring on different faults in southern Taiwan, the correlation between the observed radon minima and the earthquake magnitude is not yet possible.