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Environmental impact of CO2, Rn, Hg degassing from the rupture zones produced by Wenchuan M s 8.0 earthquake in western Sichuan, China

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Abstract

The concentrations and flux of CO2, 222Radon (Rn), and gaseous elemental mercury (Hg) in soil gas were investigated based on the field measurements in June 2010 at ten sites along the seismic rupture zones produced by the May 12, 2008, Wenchuan M s 8.0 earthquake in order to assess the environmental impact of degassing of CO2, Rn and Hg. Soil gas concentrations of 344 sampling points were obtained. Seventy measurements of CO2, Rn and Hg flux by the static accumulation chamber method were performed. The results of risk assessment of CO2, Rn and Hg concentration in soil gas showed that (1) the concentration of CO2 in the epicenter of Wenchuan M s 8.0 earthquake and north end of seismic ruptures had low risk of asphyxia; (2) the concentrations of Rn in the north segment of seismic ruptures had high levels of radon, Maximum was up to level 4, according to Chinese code (GB 50325-2001); (3) the average geoaccumulation index I geo of soil Hg denoted the lack of soil contamination, and maximum values classified the soil gas as moderately to strongly polluted in the epicenter. The investigation of soil gas CO2, Rn and Hg degassing rate indicated that (1) the CO2 in soil gas was characterized by a mean \(\updelta^{13}C_{CO2}\) of −20.4 ‰ and by a mean CO2 flux of 88.1 g m−2 day−1, which were in the range of the typical values for biologic CO2 degassing. The maximum of soil CO2 flux reached values of 399 g m−2 day−1 in the epicenter; (2) the soil Rn had higher exhalation in the north segment of seismic ruptures, the maximum reached value of 1976 m Bq m−2 s−1; (3) the soil Hg flux was lower, ranging from −2.5 to 18.7 n g m−2 h−1 and increased from south to north. The mean flux over the all profiles was 4.2 n g m−2 h−1. The total output of CO2 and Hg degassing estimated along seismic ruptures for a survey area of 18.17 km2 were approximately 0.57 Mt year−1 and 688.19 g year−1. It is recommended that land-use planners should incorporate soil gas and/or gas flux measurements in the environmental assessment of areas of possible risk. A survey of all houses along seismic ruptures is advised as structural measures to prevent the ingress of soil gases, including CO2 and Rn, were needed in some houses.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Seismological Bureau of Sichuan Province and Prof. Fang Du for help in the field work. We sincerely thank the editor and reviewer for their valuable comments and grammar edits in improving the manuscript. This research was jointly supported by the national youth nature fund (41303076, 41403099, 41402298) and the National Science and Technology Support Program (CEA Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction (2013IES010102, 2013IES0205, 2014IES0402, 2010IES0101).

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  1. CEA Key Laboratory of Earthquake Prediction (Institute of Earthquake Science), China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100036, China

    Xiaocheng Zhou, Zhi Chen & Yueju Cui

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Zhou, X., Chen, Z. & Cui, Y. Environmental impact of CO2, Rn, Hg degassing from the rupture zones produced by Wenchuan M s 8.0 earthquake in western Sichuan, China. Environ Geochem Health 38, 1067–1082 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-015-9773-1

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