Experimental density radiography of Wudalianchi volcano with cosmic ray muons

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the first muon radiography of a Chinese volcano, successfully imaging its internal density structure using a plastic scintillator detector over a month-long observation period.

Contribution

It presents the first application of cosmic ray muon radiography to a Chinese volcano, showing feasibility for high-resolution 2D and 3D density imaging of geological targets.

Findings

Successfully imaged the Laoheishan volcano cone’s internal density structure.

Demonstrated the feasibility of using plastic scintillator muon detectors for volcano imaging.

Collected over 3 million muon tracks in a month-long observation period.

Abstract

Muon radiography is a promising technique to image the internal density structures upto a few hundred meters scale, such as tunnels, pyramids and volcanos, by measuring the flux attenuation of cosmic ray muons after trvaling through these targets. In this study, we conducted an experimantal cosmic ray muon radiography of the Wudalianchi volcano in northeast China for imaging its internal density structures. The muon detector used in this study is made of plastic scintillator and silicon photomultiplier. After about one and a half month observation for the Laoheishan volcano cone in the Wudalianchi volcano, from September 23rd to November 10th, 2019, more than 3 million muon tracks passing the data selection criteria are obtained. Based on the muon observations and the high-resoluiton topography from aerial photogrammetry by unmanned aerial vehicle, the relative density image of the Laoheishan volcano cone is obtained. The experiment in this study is the first muon radiography of volcano performed in China, and the results suggest the feasibility of radiography technique based on plastic scintillator muon detector. As a new passive geophysical imaging method, cosmic ray muon radiography could become a promising method to obtain the high-resoution 2-D and 3-D density structures for shallow geological targets.