RADON MEASUREMENT IN SEISMOLOGICAL RESEARCH

The measurement of radon contents in groundwater and soil gas are broa dly used in seismological research in China. (1), In the study of eart hquake precursors, variations of radon contents have been timely obser ved before earthquakes, but evidence of some cases without radon chang es or some changes without earthquakes also exist. (2), The measuremen t results of radon content in epicentre area show that attenuation of radon contents, from epicentral area,are quite similar with that of is oseismic line after occurrence of earthquakes, so it will help to eval uate intensity. (3), In the study of fault activity, plane linear dist ribution of radon content anomalies can be used for determination of f ault (or buried structure) strike; the uneven distribution of radon co ntents along fault strike can be used for study of active segment; the faulting activity can be studied by radon content changes with time i n a certain segment; Some further studies on relation between radon co ntent variation and earthquakes are also discussed.