Estimation of radon prone areas through binary classification, part 2: radon prone geologies. (March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bossew, P.
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental radioactivity. Volume 141(2015:Mar.)
• Page Start: 44
• Page End: 50
• Publication Date: 2015-03
• Subjects: Radon prone geology -- Binary classification -- Radon mapping; Radioactivity -- Periodicals; Radiation, Background -- Periodicals; Radioecology -- Periodicals; Radioactive pollution -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollutants -- Periodicals; Radioactive Pollutants -- Periodicals; Radioactivity -- Periodicals; Radioécologie -- Périodiques; Pollution radioactive -- Périodiques; Fond de rayonnement -- Périodiques; 539.752
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.11.020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-931X

Abstract

Abstract: A radon prone geology is one for which the probability is increased that in a house built on it, elevated indoor Rn concentration will be encountered, or that its Rn potential will be increased. Labelling geological units as Rn prone or not can be an important support in deciding whether a geographical or administrative region in which that geological unit occurs, should be called Rn prone area, possibly in absence of other predictors. In this article a method is proposed which, given a set of geological classes, sorts the classes into Rn prone and non-Rn prone classes depending on a classification criterion which one can choose according the purpose. The method is computationally simple and is demonstrated on the example of Germany. Highlights: A method is presented for assembling geological classes into "Rn prone" and "non-Rn prone" geologies. The method is based on bivariate classification by the ROC technique. Criteria which define whether a geology belongs to either group can be derived from a threshold of any continuous Rn related quantity.