Acta Geophysica

vol. 61, no. 4, Aug. 2013, pp. 958-976

DOI: 10.2478/s11600-013-0120-6

Radon-Thoron Monitoring
in Tatun Volcanic Areas of Northern Taiwan
Using LR-115 Alpha Track Detector Technique:

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Pre-Calibration and Installation

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Arvind KUMAR1,2, Vivek WALIA1, Tsanyao Frank YANG2,
Hsiao-Hsien CHANG1, Shih-Jung LIN1, Karumpil Philips EAPPEN3,
and Baldev Raj ARORA1
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1
National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, NARL, Taipei, Taiwan
e-mails: vivekwalia@rediffmail.com, walia@ncree.org.tw
2
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
3
Consultant, International Environment Consulting, New Delhi, India
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Abstract
In the present study, experiments have been carried out to calibrate
LR-115 alpha detector films in bare and cup-mode exposure for the
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measurement of radon and thoron concentrations in soil gas. Results

showed non-uniformity in track formation on the films in bare-mode ex-
posure. However, in cup-mode exposure the non-uniformity was reduced
to a greater extent. The calibration factors obtained for radon in bare- and
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cup-mode exposures are 0.049 and 0.034 tr. cm−2 per Bq m−3 d, respec-
tively. An attempt has been made to calibrate the radon-thoron discrimi-
native cup with LR-115 films for simultaneous measurements of radon
and thoron. This paper also presents the preliminary results of radon-
thoron monitoring in Tatun volcanic areas of northern Taiwan for the
first time using radon-thoron discriminators with LR-115 films. The re-
sults show that the safe temperature to install the LR-115 films in vol-
canic areas is ≤ 65°C and thoron concentration in the study area is low.

Key words: radon, thoron, LR-115 films, discriminative cup, Tatun

volcanic areas.
________________________________________________
© 2013 Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 959

1. INTRODUCTION
Radon and thoron are radioactive gases generated from the decay of radium
(226Ra or 224Ra) in the natural decay series of uranium (238U) and thorium
(232Th) present in the earth crust. These radioactive gases that are produced
continuously in the earth’s crust migrate towards the surface mainly through
diffusion and advection processes (Etiope and Martinelli 2002, Yang et al.
2003, 2011). One of the important aspects of radon and thoron is the study of
its origin and migration with application to geochemical and geophysical
studies. Measurement of radon in soil gas is recognized as a technique for
radium prospecting (Dyck 1972, Singh et al. 2007), earthquakes and vol-

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canic activity studies (Armienta et al. 2002, Chyi et al. 2005, 2011, Fu et al.
2008, 2009, Kumar et al. 2009, Walia et al. 2009, Singh et al. 2010, Yang et

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al. 2005, 2011) as well as for tracing neotectonic faults (Etiope and
Lombardi 1995, Guerra and Lombardi 2001, Fu et al. 2005, Walia et al.
2005a, 2010). However, radon anomalies are not only controlled by seismic
activity but also by meteorological parameters, like soil moisture, rainfall,
temperature, and barometric pressure (Ghosh et al. 2009, Stranden et al.
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1984, Walia et al. 2005b).
In the last twenty years, new instruments and methods were developed to
measure radon-thoron by using grab, integrating and continuous modes of
sampling (Papastefanou 2007). The most common instruments used for ra-
don-thoron monitoring since the mid1970’s till today, consist into two cate-
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gories: (i) passive detectors such as diffusion barrier type, electret ion cham-
bers and alpha track detectors, (ii) active detectors such as RAD7 (by
Durridge, USA) and RTM 2200 (by SARAD, Germany), Alphagaurd (by
Genitron, Germany), and Barasol probe (by Alcatel, France). Although the
active detectors are more accurate and precise than passive detectors, they
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are cost prohibitive and we cannot install these instruments near the volcanic
areas because of the high probability of contamination due to high tempera-
ture and sulphur content. Alpha Track Detectors (ATDs) are cheap and can
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be installed near the volcanic areas. Because of their low cost we can also es-
tablish a number of long term radon-thoron monitoring stations in a particu-
lar area under observation which may not be possible by other techniques.
Various types of ATDs are used in different exposure modes for the
measurement of radon. Dosimeters or discriminator of specific designs have
been developed using ATDs (Eappen and Mayya 2004, Al-Azmi 2009). It is
mandatory that these dosimeter set-ups are calibrated before they are de-
ployed in actual field measurements. Calibration of such dosimeters is im-
perative and many studies have been done worldwide to calibrate dosimeters
of specific designs with functional utilities. Recently it was shown that the
results of passive radon detectors are affected by thoron as well as progenies
960 A. KUMAR et al.

(Doi et al. 2009). In order to resolve this problem, it is necessary to use pas-
sive radon detectors with thoron and progenies discrimination techniques.
Considering the above facts in the present study, some laboratory experi-
ments were performed where ATDs were used in two modes of exposures:
(i) in bare-mode, and (ii) in cup-modes to calibrate cellulose nitrate alpha de-
tector films. An attempt has been made to calibrate radon-thoron discrimina-
tive cups with LR-115 for simultaneous measurements of radon and thoron.
To check the efficiency of this economic technique, cellulose nitrate alpha
detector films (LR-115) were installed in discriminative cups at Hsiaoyou-
keng (SYK), Dayoukeng (DYK), and Gungtzeping (GTP) of Tatun volcanic

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areas of northern Taiwan to observe possible radon-thoron flux changes to
monitor volcanic and seismic activities in the area.

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2. METHODOLOGY
2.1 Calibration setup
The laboratory calibration set-up consists of a rectangular chamber (57 ×
31 × 40 cm) having a capacity of about 70 L with an inlet and an outlet valve
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(Fig. 1). Active radon instruments and LR-115 films have been placed inside
the chamber from the removable upper lid. A circulating fan is placed inside
the chamber to achieve equilibrium of gas inside the calibration chamber
quickly. A suction pump, maintained at a flow rate close to 1 Lpm, is placed
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between the hollow steel pipe of 10 cm diameter inserted into the ground to
a depth of about 0.5 m and calibration chamber to carry radon-thoron gases
into the calibration chamber. The distance between soil hole and calibration
chamber may affect thoron in the chamber and discriminator. In the present
study the distance between soil hole and calibration chamber is kept constant
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(about 2 m). The outlet from the calibration chamber is fed back to the pump
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Fig. 1. Sketch showing the experimental set-up used in the present study and the po-
sition of films installed in bare-mode inside the chamber.
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 961

so as to maintain a close circuit path for the system. Continuous radon moni-
tors RAD7 and RTM 2200 were used for the measurements of radon and
thoron gases inside the chamber.

2.2 Calibration experiments

The following experiments were carried out in different modes of exposures
of LR-115 for the calibration study.
Study 1
LR films were installed in bare-mode at the center of six sides of the cham-

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ber (one at each side of the chamber) along with RTM and RAD7 (Fig. 1)
for sampling interval of one week. Placements of the films installed inside

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the chamber were marked as 1 and 2 for films at top and bottom, and 3, 4, 5
and 6 for films at the four sides of the chamber (Fig. 1). Figure 2 shows the
buildup of radon gas inside the calibration chamber.
Study 2
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LR films were installed in cup-mode with a filter to avoid the contribution
from progeny concentrations. The cups used were 7 cm in diameter and 3 cm
deep. Both radon and thoron gases only can enter the cup in this mode and
the exposure was continued for one week. Figure 3 shows the dosimeter cups
with filter capping. Dosimeters were placed at locations same as in the pre-
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vious experiment along with RTM.

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Fig. 2. Radon concentrations recorded by RTM and RAD7 inside the chamber dur-
ing Study 1. Colour version of this figure is available in electronic edition only.
962 A. KUMAR et al.

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Fig. 3. Photo of filter placed in dosimeter cup and sketch showing their position in-
side the chamber during Study 2.

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Study 3
To calibrate LR-115 plastic track detector with radon-thoron discrimination
(Fig. 4) in the cup-mode, LR-115 films were exposed inside a radon-thoron
discriminator tube of 25 cm length and 5 cm diameter. Length of the radon-
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thoron discriminative tube taken was 25 cm considering the slight movement
of air inside the calibration chamber, even though the diffusive length of
thoron is only < 3 cm in air in static condition. Two LR-115 films were
placed inside the tube, one at the entry point and the other at the bottom of
the tube. The filter was also placed at the entry point to avoid the contribu-
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tion from progeny concentrations. The film at the entry point is expected to
register tracks due to radon and thoron, while the film at the bottom of the
tube will register tracks due to radon only. RTM was used to measure the gas
concentrations and the experiment was continued for one week. Later the
same experiment was repeated with the increased exposure time, i.e., for two
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weeks.
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Fig. 4. Photo of radon-thoron discriminator with film holder and sketch showing ra-
don-thoron discriminators in cup-mode and bare-mode placed inside the chamber
during Studies 3 and 4.
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 963

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Fig. 5. Map showing the locations of monitoring stations and geology of the study
area modified from the map taken from Central Geological Survey, Taiwan
(http://www.moeacgs.gov.tw). Colour version of this figure is available in electronic
edition only.

After the fixed time exposure, the retrieval LR-115 films were chemical-
ly etched with 2.5 N NaOH in a constant temperature bath. Temperature of
964 A. KUMAR et al.

the etchant was kept constant at 60°C and films were etched for 90 minutes.
Tracks were counted using an optical microscope and computed for tracks
per cm2 using the total tracks counted in graticule area. The calibration fac-
tors of LR-115 films for radon and thoron in different modes of exposure
were calculated by the following formula (Eappen and Mayya 2004):
T = kCt , (1)

where T denotes the track densities observed on a ATD due to exposure in

a given mode to a concentration C of a given species for a time t to find the
calibration factors in different mode of exposure in a chamber.

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2.3 Field experiments

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In order to study radon-thoron in volcanic areas, radon-thoron discriminators
along with LR films were installed in Tatun volcanic areas (Fig. 5) at a num-
ber of sites (i.e., five, four, and three at SYK, DYK, and GTP, respectively)
having different temperatures in a hole (about 50 cm depths) for a defined
period (bi-weekly to monthly). The discriminators are installed at the sites in
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field with PVC pipe casing and open bottom-end. After retrieval and etching
the films from the above sites, the computed tracks per cm2 in the films were
converted to kBq/m3 using the calibration factor calculated in the present
study.
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3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Calibration study
Table 1 shows the results of the laboratory experiments for the calibrations
of LR-115 films in different exposure modes. The average value of track
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density recorded in Study 1 was 4466 tr. cm–2 with a standard deviation
(SD) of 1278 tr. cm–2. The maximum track density was recorded at position
4, i.e., 6566 tr. cm–2, whereas the minimum of 2810 tr. cm–2 was recorded at
position 1. Only track densities at positions 3 and 5 were found to be almost
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same. The recorded radon concentrations inside the chamber by RTM and
RAD7 for one week are shown in Fig. 2. The average radon concentrations
recorded by RTM and RAD7 inside the chamber during this time period
were 13 ± 1.5 and 14 ± 1.6 kBq m–3, respectively. It is clear from the data that
track density recorded using track etch method on the films is different at
different positions, whereas radon concentration recorded by active detectors
is nearly same. The track density recorded on the films at six positions in the
chamber during Study 2 is also shown in Table 1. The average value of track
density recorded for this time window was 2885 tr. cm–2 with a standard de-
viation (SD) of 320 tr. cm–2. Track densities recorded at different positions in
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 965

T ab l e 1
Results of dosimeter exposure in the chamber (Study 1 and 2)
Bare mode Cup mode
Position of
S. Track Calibration factor Track Calibration factor
the LR films
No. density [tr. cm−2 per density [tr. cm−2 per
inside chamber
[tr. cm–2] Bq m−3 d] –2
[tr. cm ] Bq m−3 d]
1 Top 2810 0.031 3179 0.038
2 Bottom 3704 0.041 2455 0.029
3 Right 4274 0.047 2595 0.031

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4 Left 6566 0.072 2818 0.033
5 Back 4355 0.048 3253 0.038

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6 Front 5087 0.056 3017 0.036
Average 4466 0.049 ± 0.014 2885 0.034 ± 0.003
SD* 1278 0.020 320 0.004
Notes: Exposure period: 7 days for both bare-mode and cup-mode exposures;
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Radon concentration: bare mode 13 ± 1.5 kBq m–3, cup mode 12 ± 1.3 kBq m–3 ;
*)Standard Deviation

this study have shown almost similar values (Table 1). The conventional in-
strument RTM was used for absolute measurements of the radon gas inside
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the chamber; in this experiment as in the previous experiment the radon con-
centrations recorded by RTM and RAD7 were nearly same. The average ra-
don concentration recorded by RTM inside the chamber during this time
period was 12 ± 1.3 kBq m–3.
The results of the experiments for the sensitivity factors (calibration
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factors) obtained in LR-115 films at different exposure modes are shown in

Table 1. The averages sensitivity factors for the exposed films for Studies 1
and 2 show that in bare-mode the variation is almost 30%, whereas in cup-
mode the variation is within 10%. The cup-mode result could be acceptable
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while taking account of the uncertainties in the different measurement steps.

The possible explanation for such a large variation in the results for bare-
mode exposure can be attributed to non-uniform contribution of tracks by
progeny concentrations inside the calibration chamber. The non-uniformity
of progeny concentration inside the chamber at different locations could be
due to air flow causing progeny concentration gradient inside the calibration
chamber. In cup-mode exposure, the contribution of tracks is due to radon-
thoron inside the dosimeter and for all practical purposes the progeny con-
centrations contributing tracks inside the dosimeter are considered to be in
secular equilibrium with radon gas since the exposure period lasted for 7
966 A. KUMAR et al.

days. Results show a consistency within 10%, indicating the acceptability of

the method for reproducible results.
In Study 3 the experiment was carried out for finding the calibration fac-
tors (CFs) simultaneously for both radon and thoron in the soil gas. The
number of tracks recorded in 200 graticule in radon-thoron discriminator in-
side the chamber for one week exposure time was 170 for the film kept at the
entry point and 150 for the film kept 25 cm down inside the discriminating
cup. The RTM instrument was used for the measurement of radon and
thoron simultaneously. Average radon and thoron concentrations recorded
by RTM during the experiment were 5.8 ± 0.07 and 0.03 ± 0.01 kBq m–3, re-

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spectively. The difference in the number of tracks recorded at two positions
in the discriminator is found to be very small indicating the low concentra-

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tion of thoron in comparison to radon in the used soil-gas source, which is in
agreement with the recorded RTM values for radon and thoron in the cham-
ber. Later, this experiment was repeated by increasing the exposure time
from one week to two weeks with the aim to have more tracks for thoron.
The recorded tracks at two different positions in the discriminator were 149
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and 154, respectively, whereas recorded radon-thoron concentrations using
RTM during this experiment were 3.5 ± 0.03 and .02 ± 0.01 kBq m–3, respec-
tively. Both experiments have shown the same results, i.e., tracks recorded
for thoron and thoron concentration inside the chamber recorded by RTM
are very low. Because of low value of thoron, our result of calibration factor
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for thoron is not promising, whereas the results are promising with respect to
radon values. We obtained a CF 0.027 tr. cm–2 per Bq m–3 d for the radon in
the discriminative cup.

3.2 Field study

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After calibrations of the LR-115 films in radon-thoron discriminator, long

term monitoring of radon-thoron has been started systematically in Tatun
volcanic areas of northern Taiwan. The Tatun volcanic area is located on the
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northernmost tip of Taiwan (Fig. 5), which includes more than 20 volcanoes
(Chen and Wu 1971, Wang and Chen 1990). The Tatun volcanic area is just
north of the Taipei basin, the capital of Taiwan, with a total population of
more than seven million inhabitants. The geological formation of the Tatun
volcanic area consists of lava and pyroclastic rocks, basically andesite and
basalt (Lee et al. 2005) developed after the Pliocene epoch. Wadis in this
area contain mainly gravel and sand deposits eroded from the lava and pyro-
clastic rocks. Chinshan fault is the one of the major geological structures in
the Tatun volcanic group, which is a reverse fault and strikes in the NE-SW
direction. The southwestern extension of this fault might be connected to the
Hsinchun fault beneath the western Taipei basin. The eruption history of the
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 967

Tatun volcanoes can be divided into two major periods, based on the K-Ar
dating (Tsao 1994) and fission track analyses (Wang and Chen 1990). The
first major eruption was around 2.5-2.8 Ma, whereas the second started in
1.5 Ma and continued until the last eruption around 0.1-0.2 Ma (Song et al.
2000a).
The Tatun volcanoes have been extinct for a very long time, but the pos-
sibility of periodic re-eruptions can be no longer ruled out by virtue of new
research results. Geothermal activities as hot springs and gas fumaroles are
very widespread on the surface (Chen and Wu 1971). Also, the volcanic evo-
lutionary history of Taiwan shows the Tatun volcanoes could be reactivated

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simply on the grounds that two major eruptions have occurred in the past
few million years. Recent geochemical analyses of fumaroles gas further

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show that the Helium isotopic ratios are very high (Yang 2000, Yang et al.
1999, Lan et al. 2007, Lee et al. 2008, Witt et al. 2008), indicating some
magma chambers might still exist beneath the Tatun volcanoes. Such geo-
logical and geochemical observations as these suggest that active magma
chambers probably lie beneath the volcano group (Song et al. 2000b). Tomo-
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graphic results also show the presence of a tube-shaped, highly fractured an-
cient magma passage with high seismic velocities parallel to the Chinshan
fault, and magma passage that extends to the southeast at a depth of about
20 km (Wen et al. 2012).
For the present study we have installed five radon-thoron discriminators
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at SYK, four at DYK, and three at GTP in different sites. DYK is the most
active and important geothermal area with one of biggest venting fumaroles
(Fig. 5) in the study area and have shown 3He/4He ratio ~6.7-6.8 RA, as re-
ported by Yang et al. (2003) and Ohba et al. (2010). DYK is at an elevation
of 1400 m and contains a host of fumaroles, sulfur vents, and hot springs.
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The fumaroles and vents continuously discharge stream and gases. There are
two major fumaroles in DYK and the distance between them is about 100 m.
One of the sampling sites (i.e., site 4 in Table 3 and Fig. 7b) selected for this
study lies in between above-said two fumaroles. SYK is located SW whereas
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GTP lies NE of DYK. Earlier studies have shown that SYK has high me-
thane concentration indicating that hydrothermal and organic process may
exist in the area, whereas GTP do not fall in the range of hydrothermal gases
(Lee et al. 2005). Tables 2, 3, and 4 show the summary of the preliminary
results obtained from the radon-thoron discriminators installed at different
temperatures sites in SYK, DYK, and GTP, respectively. It can be observed
from the recorded data that the temperatures of the sites are not uniform, i.e.,
not having same temperature during installation and retrieval of films. The
films that were installed at the sites having temperatures greater than 65°C
are destroyed during the exposure or etching, indicating that the safest tem-
perature for the LR-115 films in the volcanic areas should be ≤ 65°C. Fur-
968 A. KUMAR et al.

T ab l e 2
Summary of the results recorded in different sites at SYK
Temperature Tracks/200
Date Exposure graticules or remarks
[°C]
time
During During [days]
Installed Retrieved Up Down
installation retrieval
Site 1
Destroyed Destroyed
90 95 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 during during
etching etching

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Destroyed Destroyed
95 90 15 Jun 2011 13 Jul 2011 28 in field in field

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Site 2
22 24 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 223 335
24 25 15 Jun 2011 13 Jul 2011 28 288 320
25 26 13 Jul 2011 21 Jul 2011 7 310 338
26 – 21 Jul 2011 5 Aug 2011 15 408 591
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– 29 5 Aug 2011 18 Aug 2011 13 340 497
29 – 18 Aug 2011 31 Aug 2011 13 302 458
Site 3
Destroyed Destroyed
80 95 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 in field in field
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Site 4
Destroyed Destroyed
70 73 15 Jun 2011 13 Jul 2011 28 in field in field
Destroyed Destroyed
73 77 13 Jul 2011 21 Jul 2011 7 in field in field
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Site 5
Films were Films were
56 60 5 Aug 2011 18 Aug 2011 13 not found not found
60 – 18 Aug 2011 31 Aug 2011 13 549 602
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ther, the difference in the number of tracks recorded in the radon-thoron

discriminators are observed to be very small, which may be due to low con-
centration of thoron in the study area or most of the thoron might have de-
cayed before entering the instruments/track detectors. Presently, two out of
five sites, two out of the four sites, and one out of three sites are giving ra-
don-thoron monitoring data at SYK, DYK, and GTP, respectively, in the
Tatun volcanic area. The number of tracks recorded for radon at these sites
has been converted to kBq/m3 using the calibration factor obtained in the
present study.
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 969

T ab l e 3
Summary of the results recorded in different sites at DYK
Temperature Tracks/200
[°C] Date Exposure graticules or remarks
time
During During [days]
installation retrieval Installed Retrieved Up Down
Site 1
Destroyed Destroyed
92 88 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 during during
etching etching

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Destroyed Destroyed
– – 15 Jun 2011 18 Aug 2011 64 in field in field
Site 2

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24 23 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 248 268
23 26 15 Jun 2011 18 Aug 2011 64 428 488
Site 3
Destroyed Destroyed
82 97 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 in field in field
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Site 4
60 63 31 May 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 345 448
560 Destroyed
63 65 15 Jun 2011 18 Aug 2011 64 in field
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T ab l e 4
Summary of the results recorded in different sites at GTP
Temperature Tracks/200
Date Exposure
[°C] time graticules or remarks
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During During Installed Retrieved [days] Up Down

installation retrieval
Site 1
– – 3 Jun 2011 15 Jun 2011 12 – –
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Destroyed Destroyed
50 56 15 Jun 2011 21 Jul 2011 36 in field in field
56 56 21 Jul 2011 5 Aug 2011 15 – –
56 63 5 Aug 2011 18 Aug 2011 13 372 498
63 – 18 Aug 2011 31 Aug 2011 13 408 580
Site 2
Destroyed Destroyed
60 80 3 Jun 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 in field in field
Site 3
Destroyed Destroyed
80 90 3 Jun 2011 15 Jun 2011 15 in field in field
970 A. KUMAR et al.

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Fig. 6. Recorded average radon concentration in the sites of temperature range:

(a) 24 to 29°C at SYK from 31 May 2011 to 28 June 2012, and (b) 48 to 60°C at
SYK from 18 August 2011 to 28 June 2012.
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Figure 6a shows the variation of radon concentration at the sites of tem-

perature range 24 to 29°C from 31 May 2011 to 28 June 2012 and Fig. 6b
the variation of radon concentration in the sites of temperature range 48 to
60°C from 18 August 2011 to 28 June 2012, in SYK. The sites of tempera-
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ture range 24 to 29°C show variation in radon concentration from 3-

15 kBq/m3 whereas the site of temperature range 48 to 60°C does not show
much variation in radon concentration. Sometimes the recorded radon con-
centrations at this site are close to zero. Figure 7a shows the variation of ra-
don concentration in the sites of temperature range 23 to 46°C and Fig. 7b
variation of radon concentration in the sites of temperature range 60 to 65°C
from 31 May 2011 to 28 June 2012, at DYK. The sites of temperature range
23 to 46°C show variation in radon concentration from 0.8-3.3 kBq/m3,
whereas the sites of temperature range 60 to 65°C show variation in radon
concentration from 0.2-10.9 kBq/m3.
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 971

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Fig. 7. Recorded average radon concentration in the sites of temperature range:

(a) 23 to 46°C at DYK from 31 May 2011 to 28 June 2012, (b) 60 to 65°C at DYK
from 31 May 2011 to 28 June 2012.
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Fig. 8. Recorded average radon concentration in the sites of temperature range 35 to

60°C at GTP from 5 August 2011 to 6 February 2012.

Figure 8 shows the variation of radon concentration in the sites of tem-

perature range 35 to 60°C at GTP from 5 August 2011 to 28 June 2012. The
recorded variation in radon concentration in this site is 1.2-40.2 kBq/m3
972 A. KUMAR et al.

which is higher than in the sites at SYK and DYK. These low values of ra-
don concentration at SYK and DYK sites may be due to the existence of un-
derneath magma chamber as reported elsewhere and dominated by the vola-
tile gases (Lee et al. 2005). High values of radon at GTP may be the
presence of fractured zones, as earlier reports suggest that the degassing
sources for the TVG gases were closely related to the subducting process in
NE Taiwan. Further, it can be seen from the recorded data that radon behav-
ior is different at different sites. This may be due to the difference in radon
flux and temperature range (may be due the presence of fumaroles and vents)
in the respective sites. Also, the recorded radon concentrations at some sites

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are very low. It means these sites may not be suitable for radon monitoring.
We have replaced these sites with new suitable sites for radon-thoron moni-

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toring. The work is in progress; in future we will report the possible fluctua-
tions and radon behavior due to seismic events and volcanic eruptions at
different sites having different temperatures in details after the long term
monitoring.
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4. CONCLUSIONS
From this study we can conclude that:
‰ Progeny nuclides affect the track formation in LR-115 films in bare
mode, which must be controlled in an experimental set-up.
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‰ An economical method has been developed to measure soil gas radon-

thoron using discriminative cup deploying LR-115 films.
‰ The temperatures of the sites are not constant in volcanic areas, i.e., the
temperature during installation and during retrieval of the films from the
hole is different.
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‰ The safest temperature to install the films in volcanic areas is ≤ 65°C.

‰ The number of tracks recorded for thoron is very small. It means either
thoron concentration is very low in the study area or most of the thoron
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might have decayed before entering the instruments/track detectors.

‰ The low values of radon concentration at SYK and DYK sites may be due
to the existence of underneath magma chamber and dominated by the
volatile gases, whereas comparatively high values of radon at GTP may
be due to the presence of fractured zones.
‰ The radon behavior observed is different at different sites in volcanic ar-
eas of northern Taiwan and some sites are not suitable for radon detec-
tion.
 CALIBRATION AND RADON MONITORING IN TATUN VOLCANO 973

A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t s . The authors are thankful to National Science

Council of Taiwan for supporting this work financially under the project
(TFY/NSC 99-2116-M-002-022 and VW/NSC 100-2116-M-492-002).

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Meas. 44, 3, 306-310, DOI: 10.1016/j.radmeas.2009.03.013.

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Armienta, M.A., N. Varley, and E. Ramos (2002), Radon and hydrogeochemical
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Received 31 July 2012

Received in revised form 28 December 2012
Accepted 7 January 2013

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