Abstract

Absatrct

A high-fidelity record covering nearly 40 years of water-dissolved radon from the hot spring site of BangLazhang (BLZ), Southwestern China is presented to study multi-year periodicities of radon. Ancillary observational data, i.e., water temperature, spring discharge rate, barometric pressure, combined with regional rainfall, galactic cosmic rays (GCR flux is modulated by solar wind and thus a proxy for solar activity) and regional seismicity from the same period are considered to identify potentially influencing factors controlling the changes in radon. Variations in radon concentration and ancillary observational data are studied using continuous Wavelet Power Spectrum (WPS), Wavelet Coherence (WTC), and Partial Wavelet Coherence (PWC). The results show that the long-period radon concentration is characterized by a quasi-decadal (8–11 years) cycle, matching well with the concurrent periodicity in water temperature, spring discharge rates and GCR. PWCs of radon, discharge rate and water temperature suggest that water temperature variations explain most of the coherent variability of radon and the discharge rate. We tentatively conclude that radon variations are mainly explained by variations in water temperature and spring discharge, which are modified and modulated by earthquakes and quasi-decadal variations of an unidentified process. The influence of solar activity on the decadal periodicity is discussed.

Details

Title
Decadal radon cycles in a hot spring
Author
Yan, Rui 1 ; Woith, Heiko 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wang, Rongjiang 2 ; Wang, Guangcai 3 

1  State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology & MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation and Environmental Evolution, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China; School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China; China Earthquake Networks Center, Beijing, China 
2  GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany 
3  State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology & MOE Key Laboratory of Groundwater Circulation and Environmental Evolution, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China; School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China 
Pages
1-12
Publication year
2017
Publication date
Sep 2017
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12441-0
ProQuest document ID
1955045269
Copyright
© 2017. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.