Paper No. 1-4
Presentation Time: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM
EXTREMELY HIGH INDOOR RADON ON THE PETERS CREEK SCHIST IN VIRGINIA
DIBENEDETTO, Paul, MOSE, Douglas, and ROJAS, Maria, Chemistry, George Msson Univ, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030, Dje42@aol.com

Soil permeability and soil radon serve to define the indoor radon potential over the Peters Creek Schist, a quartz-rich polymetamorphic unit in northern Virginia. Based on a year of seasonal (3 month) indoor radon measurements in almost 250 homes, the USEPA's Maximum Contamination Level of 4 pCi/L (for home buyers) was exceeded in more than half of the homes (winter average=5.6 pCi/L, spring and fall @ 5.3 pCi/L, and summer average=4.0 pCi/L. New home construction is active in this area, and some builders have installed passive radon mitigation systems (causes modest radon mitigation) or active sub-slab remediation (lowers indoor radon to less than 2 pCi/L in most homes). Good correlations between indoor radon and aeroradioactivity (total gamma) maps make it possible to avoid some areas during home construction.

South-Central Section (37th) and Southeastern Section (52nd), GSA Joint Annual Meeting (March 12–14, 2003)
General Information for this Meeting
Session No. 1--Booth# 4
Environmental Geology and Hydrogeology (Posters)
University of Memphis Conference Center: Holiday Inn, Ballroom 2/3
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Thursday, March 13, 2003
 

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