Radon exhalation rate from soil samples of South Kumaun Lesser Himalayas, India

Ionizing radiation exposure experienced by the general population is mainly due to the indoor radon. Major part of radon comes from the top layer of the earth. The radon emanation is associated with radon in soil and sleepy back radium in the soil. Both field and laboratory measurements were carried out for the instantaneous and integrated radon concentration in soil-gas. The radon exhalation rate from collected soil samples was measured using LR-115 Type II plastic track detector. The soil-gas radon concentration was measured with the help of radon Emanometry method. The effective radium content of the soil samples was also calculated. The correlation coefficient between radium contents in collected soil samples and soil-gas radon from the same locations was calculated as 0.1, while it is 0.2 between radon exhalation rate and soil-gas radon concentration. The results show weak positive correlation due to the geological disturbance in the equilibrium conditions and high mobility of radon in the same geological medium.