Some recent studies on groundwater radon content as an earthquake precursor

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Abstract
Some recent studies of groundwater radon content in relation to seismic activities are reviewed. Results from China and Japan are presented, including laboratory experiments and the development of continuous groundwater radon monitoring systems. In addition, groundwater radon monitoring studies conducted at the University of Southern California (USC) since 1974 are presented in some detail. The USC project includes a groundwater radon monitoring network of 14 sampling sites at cold springs, hot springs, deep irrigation wells, and artesian wells that are distributed along a ‘locked’ stretch of the San Andreas fault from Gorman to San Bernardino in California. Radon contents in weekly samples from these sites are analyzed to the precision of a few percent. No moderate‐to‐large earthquake has yet occurred in the vicinity, and the results show no clear association of radon anomalies with small (M ∼ 3) earthquakes to provide better test conditions. In contrast to earlier reports from Russia showing a long‐term buildup of radon emission before earthquake occurrence, several recent reports from China and Japan show that groundwater radon anomalies can be short in duration and occur only within a few days before the main shocks. Observations of such effects are made possible with the use of continuous monitoring systems. In general, available data suggest that groundwater radon monitoring could sometimes yield precursor information. However, criteria have yet to be established by which sampling sites and sampling frequencies are selected.

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