During the scientific stay (Short-Term Scientific Mission Grant, COST20108 project), realised between 1st and 12th October, 2024, researcher Iveta Smetanová visited Dr. Maria Candelaria Martín-Luis from the University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain (ULL). The researchers from both institutions performed comparative radon activity concentration and microclimate monitoring in the lava caves on Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. The measuring devices (continuous and track radon detectors) from both institutions – Earth Science Institute of Slovak Academy of Sciences (ESI) and ULL were used.
The measurements were carried out in two lava caves located on the northern slope of the Pico-Viecho volcano near the town Icod de Los Vinos in the northern part of the island. Both caves originated in the same lava flow and probably simultaneously about 27,030 ± 430 years ago, but they are not connected.
The Cueva de Felipe Reventón Cave (length of 1845 m) is not open to the public and radon monitoring was performed in it for the first time. In cooperation with Dr. Pedro Ángel Salazar-Carballo from ULL and Dr. María Esther Martín-González from the Museo de Naturaleza y Arqueologia in Santa Cruz de Tenerife radon track detectors were placed here at eight sites, in one of them also continuous detectors were positioned.
The Cueva del Viento Cave, with a length of 18.5 km and a depth of 560 m, is considered the sixth longest and the third deepest lava cave in the world. In the part accessible to tourists, the track detectors were placed at four locations where radon was already measured during a previous survey. In this part also continual radon monitoring has been conducted for four years, and on this site the detector from ESI and ULL were placed. In a part closed to the tourist eight sites with track detectors were established, one of them was also equipped with continuous radon monitors. The results of the continuous radon monitoring showed a good agreement between the time series acquired by the instruments from ESI and ULL.
Text: Iveta Smetanová
Photos: measurement team from ESI and ULL
