Different aspects of the geogenic radon potential in a coal mining area in south-western Germany arediscussed. Due to the rather low specific radium activities of rocks and soils varying between 10 and70 Bq/kg a low geogenic radon potential can be expected. Radon concentrations in soil gas inabandoned mining areas are characterized by a lognormal distribution with a median value of 20kBq/m3. In the neighboring area with deep mining generally younger than two years, radon contentsincrease up to a median value of 38 kBq/m3.
Mapping the geogenic radon potential in Germany is a research project initiated by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Conservation and Reactor Safety. The project was aimed to develop a standard methodology for the estimation of a geogenic radon potential and to apply this method to map the region of Germany as an overview for planning purposes. The regionalization results from a distance-weighted interpolation of the site-specific values of radon concentration in soil gas and in-situ gas permeability of soils on a regular grid considering the corresponding geological units.
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