Radon in soil gas of Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Haruna^*, M. A Saleh, S. Hashim

This study was conducted to establish baseline data for radon (²²²Rn) activity concentration in soil gas of Johor, Malaysia. RAD7 alpha detector was used to measure the activity concentration of ²²²Rn in soil gas. The descriptive statistic and hypothesis tests were done using SPSS software. An inverse distance weighting interpolation (IDW) technique was used to obtain the spatial distribution of the measured ²²²Rn in soil gas in the ArcGIS software. The measured activity concentration of ²²²Rn in soil gas varies from MDA to 127250 Bq m⁻³. Higher values of ²²²Rn in soil gas were found in the soil developed from granitic rocks. A statistically significant difference in the median values of ²²²Rn activity concentration among the soil types and geological formations of Johor state (P=0.008 and P=0.028, respectively) was observed. A map of the spatial distribution of the measured ²²²Rn activity concentration in soil gas was created.