Abstract
Soil gas approaches have been proven useful for detecting buried faults in field survey. How about their applicability in urban area? A trial soil gas survey has been conducted in an attempt to evaluate this in Fuzhou City, Southeastern China. The detection was performed by measuring the adsorbed mercury, free mercury and radon gases in soil in the sites such as crop soil, refilled soil and those with shallow groundwater levels. The resulting distributions show that anomalous concentrations of soil gases over faults are generally two to four times as much as those in the surrounding areas. The locations of peak values of absorbed and free mercury could possibly be applied to assist to determine the trend of faults. The background values of free mercury seems to be more stable and the anomalous zones narrower than those of radon gas, therefore, the free mercury method seems to be good for detection at this area, especially in those sites with shallow groundwater levels. The false gas anomalies may occur in such a site as refilled with external soil, refilled pond and abandoned construction bases.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ajayi T, Adepelumi A (2002) Reconnaissance soil-gas radon survey over the faulted crystalline area of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Environ Geol 41(10):608–613
Ciotoli G, Guerra M, Lombardi S, Vittori E (1998) Soil gas survey for tracing seismogenic faults: a case-study in the Fucino Basin (Central Italy). J Geophys Res 103(B10):23781–23794
Ciotoli G, Etiope G, Guerra M, Lombardi S (1999) Soil-gas, fracture field and photogeological survey for detecting concealed faults in the Oftanto clay busin. Tectonophysics 301(3/4):321–332
Dehandshutter B, Bobrov VA, Hus R, Astakhov NE, Androsova NV (2002) Radon anomalies as evidence for activity of the Sayan fault in northern Lake Teletskoe (Gorny Altai). Sci J Geol Geophys 43(2):120–133
Etiope G, Lombardi S (1996) Laboratory simulation of geogas microbubble flow. Environ Geol 27(3):226–232
Fujian Second Term of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology Explorations (1985) Report of explorations of Fuzhou geothermal field (in Chinese)
Guo YX, Wu SW, Wang CM, Wang HG, Yin SL (1991) Analysis of the fracture gas survey in Shanghai City and its adjacent areas. In: Wang CM, Li XH, Wei BL (eds) Applications of fracture gases survey to seismological sciences (in Chinese). Seismological Press, Beijing, pp 67–74
King CY, King BS, Evans WC, Zhang W (1996) Spatial radon anomalies on active faults in California. Appl Geochem 11(4):497–510
Lewicki JL (2002) Soil carbon dioxide flow associated with the San Andreas and Calaveras faults, California. A thesis in geoscience, downloaded file
Liu BJ, Fang SM, Zhang XK (2002) Report of trial detecting for active faults by shallow seismic exploration in Fuzhou City (in Chinese)
McCarthy JH, Kiilsgaard TH (2001) Soil gas studies along Trans-Challis fault system near Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho, U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2064 LL, downloaded file
Pauwels H, Baubron JC, Freyssinet P, Chesneau M (1999) Sorption of metallic compounds on activated carbon: application to exploration for concealed deposits in southern Spain. J Geochem Explor 66:115–133
Seismological Bureau of Fujian Province (2001) Map of regional seismo-geological structures of Fujian Province and instructions (in Chinese)
Wang JH, Wang L, Sun FL (1994) A study on mercury geochemistry indicators of buried fault’s characters (in Chinese). Earthq Res China 10(2):112–122
Wang GC, Wang JH, Liu CL, Liu WZ, Zhang PR (2002) A trial geochemical prospecting for buried active faults in Fuzhou City (in Chinese). Seismol Geol 24(4):593–600
Wang GC, Wang JH, Liu CL, Zhang PR (2004) Report of geochemical detecting for buried faults in Ningbo City, China (in Chinese)
Acknowledgements
The study was a part of Urban Active Fault Experimental Exploration Project. Field assistance from Zhao Zhiwei and Huang Jiazhi, Fujian Seismological Bureau, is gratefully acknowledged. The manuscript was considerably improved by technical reviews from two anonymous referees. This work was supported by grants from China National Development and Reform Commission (No. 2001977 and No. 20041138).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, G., Liu, C., Wang, J. et al. The use of soil mercury and radon gas surveys to assist the detection of concealed faults in Fuzhou City, China. Environ Geol 51, 83–90 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0306-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-006-0306-1