The use of soil-gas helium concentrations for earthquake prediction: Studies of factors causing diurnal variation

Advances in soil gas geochemical exploration for natural resources: Some current examples and practices

“…Meteorological variations affect the migration and concentration of soil gases, particularly in the near surface. Reimer [1979] found that the concentration of helium in soil gas was affected by wind speed, precipitation, and atmospheric pumping, but at sampling depths below 1 m, these effects were minimal. The concentration of mercury vapor measured at the ground surface was found to change markedly throughout the day as a Gases have applications other than helping to locate energy resources.…”

Helium in Phlegraean Fields soil gases: July 20th–26th — September 19th–25th, 1983

“…Sampling and analytical procedures adopted in this study are the same as in REIMER et al (1979) andin BALDI et al (1984). Helium concentration is expressed as the difference between the contents in the sample and in the atmosphere (5240 ~ .... ppb) (GLOECKAUF, 1946).…”

“…As results may be affected by soil .... humidity and metereological factors (REIMER, 1979;REIMER et al, 1977), sampling was concentrated in periods which were climatically similar. Rainfall at Pozzuoli in July, August and September ~ .... was 27, 54 and 24 mm, respectively.…”

“…Results may also be affected by ground-8,0° water circulation (REIMER, 1979;BRADY, 1977) and by differences in elevation of .... the sampling points. In our case, however, variations in elevation were very small and no important changes in the groundwater regime could have occurred between the two surveys.…”

“…sources of natural radioactive elements which may affect the helium distribution (REIMER et al, 1979), are not known in the studied area.…”