Evaluating and mapping the temporal and spatial distribution of radon gas utilizing geological and geospatial methods: implications for environmental impact assessment in Dessie town, Ethiopia

Abstract As a primordial radioactive element, radon can be released from the earth's geological formations. Dessie town's geological formations contain minerals that contain radon gas, which is the second cause of lung cancer next to smoking. So far, there were no investigations of geological-based radon health risks in the study area. The main objective of this study was to evaluate and map the temporal and spatial distribution of radon gas concentrations within Dessie town. The evaluation and mapping were done by using advanced geological and geospatial techniques, employing Quantum Geographic information systems (QGIS), and remote sensing techniques to integrate the research area's weather conditions, and geological data. We understood that the geological formations of Dessie town comprise basaltic rocks as we identified from the geological map of Dessie town obtained from Ethiopian geological institute, based on the geological information, we had got the radon gas activity concentrations in basaltic rock in two different ranges from 3581.5 Bqm-3 to 10,744.5 Bqm-3 for emanation coefficient 0.3 and from 35.815 Bqm-3 to 107.445 Bqm-3 for emanation coefficient 0.1 for the study area. Radon gas distribution map shows that the distributions of radon gas in Dessie town in two ranges which have their own potential hot spots as circled with different color on the map. These result indicates that there will exists health related problems due to prolonged exposure of radon gas at each station and for further investigation of radon gas activity concentrations and its health impact we recommended that using experimental measurement will provide more accurate result.