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Radon-222

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Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology

Abstract

Uranium-238 (238U) is a natural radioactive element that is present in all rocks and soils in various concentrations. Decay of 238U through a series of shorter-lived radionuclides eventually produces radium-226 (226Ra), which has a half-life of 1620 years. Radium-226 decays by alpha-particle emission directly to radon-222 (222Rn), which is short-lived (half-life = 3.82 days). Two other isotopes of radon are formed in natural decay chains, one from thorium-232 and one from uranium-235: radon-220 (220Rn) with a half-life of 56 seconds and radon-219 (219Rn) with a half-life of 4 seconds, respectively. Radon-222 has a long enough half-life to make it useful in geohydrologic studies, whereas the half-lives of 220Rn and 219Rn are too short to make them useful as tracers in environmental investigations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Geological Survey, Idaho Falls, USA

    L. DeWayne Cecil & Jaromy R. Green

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  1. L. DeWayne Cecil
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  2. Jaromy R. Green
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  1. CSIRO Land and Water, Private Mail Bag No. 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia

    Peter G. Cook  & Andrew L. Herczeg  & 

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Cecil, L.D., Green, J.R. (2000). Radon-222. In: Cook, P.G., Herczeg, A.L. (eds) Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4557-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4557-6_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-7057-4

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