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Precursory Subsurface 222Rn and 220Rn Degassing Signatures of the 2004 Seismic Crisis at Tenerife, Canary Islands

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Book cover Terrestrial Fluids, Earthquakes and Volcanoes: The Hiroshi Wakita Volume II

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Abstract

Precursory geochemical signatures of radon degassing in the subsurface of the Tenerife Island were observed several months prior to the recent 2004 seismic-volcanic crisis. These premonitory signatures were detected by means of a continuous monitoring of 222Rn and 220Rn activity from a bubbling CO2-rich gas spot located at 2.850 m depth inside a horizontal gallery for groundwater exploitation at Tenerife. Multivariate Regression Analysis (MRA) on time series of the radon activity was applied to eliminate the radon activity fluctuation due to external variables such as barometric pressure, temperature and relative humidity as well as power supply. Material Failure Forecast Method (FFM) was successfully applied to forecast the anomalous seismicity registered in Tenerife Island in 2004. The changes in the 222Rn/220Rn ratio observed after the period of anomalous seismicity might suggest a higher gas flow rate and/or changes in the vertical permeability induced by seismic activity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Enviromental Research Division, Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER), 38611, Granadilla, S/C de Tenerife, Spain

    Nemesio M. Pérez, Pedro A. Hernández, Eleazar Padrón, Gladys Melián, Rayco Marrero, Germán Padilla, José Barrancos & Dácil Nolasco

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  1. Nemesio M. Pérez
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  2. Pedro A. Hernández
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  3. Eleazar Padrón
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  4. Gladys Melián
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  5. Rayco Marrero
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  6. Germán Padilla
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  7. José Barrancos
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  8. Dácil Nolasco
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Research Division, Instituto Tecnológico y de Energias Renovables, Polígono Industrial de Granadilla s/n, 38611, Granadilla, Tenerife Canary Islands, Spain

    Nemesio M. Pérez

  2. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, V. Ugo La Malfa, 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy

    Sergio Gurrieri

  3. Earthquake Prediction Research, Inc, 381 Hawthorne Ave., Los Altos, CA, 94022, USA

    Chi-Yu King

  4. Volcanology Department Institute of Geophysics, UNAM, 3000, Av. Universidad, Mexico D.F., 04510, Mexico

    Yuri Taran

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Pérez, N.M. et al. (2007). Precursory Subsurface 222Rn and 220Rn Degassing Signatures of the 2004 Seismic Crisis at Tenerife, Canary Islands. In: Pérez, N.M., Gurrieri, S., King, CY., Taran, Y. (eds) Terrestrial Fluids, Earthquakes and Volcanoes: The Hiroshi Wakita Volume II. Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8720-4_5

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