Groundwater Dating Using Radioisotopes of 3H and 14C in Kashan Plain Aquifer

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 PhD of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Dept. of, Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, Faculty of Watershed Management, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Dept. of, New Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Renewable Energies and Environment, University of Tehran, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Dept. of, Earth Sciences, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

Abstract

Radioisotopes, as a new achievement in the environmental sciences, have found significant development in water resources management, especially in dating, aquifer recharge management, and the role of contaminants in water resources pollution. Due to the quantitative and qualitative critical condition of groundwater resources in Kashan plain, having accurate isotopic data from water resources can be effective in proper management of water resources in this region. In this paper, while presenting the groundwater sampling, preparation and analysis methods for measuring 3H and 14C, we have investigated the age of groundwater resources in Kashan plain. For this aim, 11 groundwater samples for tritium were analyzed by enrichment method and 3 samples for carbon-14 were analyzed. The results showed that the amount of tritium in the groundwater resources of Kashan plain is less than 0.08 TU which indicates that the water resources are old. Also, carbon-14 results showed that the age of groundwater resources in Kashan plain varies between 10,000 and 21,000 years. The results showed that by moving toward the northeast of the aquifer (aquifer’s outlet), the age of the water resources decreased, which indicates that the paleo deep-waters were mixed with the freshwater waters. In general, by mowing from the southwest and west of the aquifer to northeast of the aquifer, groundwater age decreases.

Keywords

References

[1]. Clark ID, Fritz P. Environmental Isotopes in Hydrogeology. 1st ed. CRC Press, 1997.
[2]. Clark ID, Fritz P. Age Dating Young Groundwater Tritium. 2006.
[3]. Clark ID. Groundwater Geochemistry and Isotopes. 1st ed. Taylor & Francis Group, 2015.
[4]. Mirzavand M. Determine the Origin and Mechanism of Groundwater Salination in Kashan Plain using Isotopic and Hydro-geochemical Methods, Ph.D. Thesis. University of Kashan, 2018. [Persian]
[5]. El Samad O, Baydoun R, Aoun M, Slim K. “Investigation of seawater intrusion using stable and radioisotopes at coastal area south of Beirut, the Capital of Lebanon,” Environ. Earth Sci. 2017; 76 (4): 1–6.
[6]. Bouchaou L. Michelot JL, Qurtobi M, Zine N, Gaye CB, Aggarwal PK, Marah H, Zerouali A, Taleb H, Vengoshg A. “Origin and residence time of groundwater in the Tadla basin (Morocco) using multiple isotopic and geochemical tools,” Journal of hydrology. 2009; 379 (3–4): 323–338.
[7]. IAEA. Isotope methods for dating old groundwater. 2013. International Atomic Energy Agency. 2013.
[8]. Stewart MK. A 40-year record of carbon-14 and tritium in the Christchurch groundwater system, New Zealand: Dating of young samples with carbon-14. Journal of Hydrology. 2012; 430–431; 50–68.
[9]. Mirzavand M, Ghazavi R. A Stochastic Modelling Technique for Groundwater Level Forecasting in an Arid Environment Using Time Series Methods. Water Resources Management. 2015; 29 ( 4): 1315–1328.
[10]. Marchetti A, Gu F, Robl R, Straume T. Determination of total iodine and sample preparation for AMS measurement of 129I in environmental matrices. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. 1997; 123: 352–355.
[11]. James AL, Roulet NT. Investigating the applicability of end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) across scale: A study of eight small, nested catchments in a temperate forested watershed. Water Resources Research.2006; 42 (8): 1–17.
[12]. Liu TK. Estimating flow and recharge rates of groundwater in western Taiwan using radiocarbon and tritium. Radiocarbon. 1995; 37 (2): 531–542.
[13]. Bouchaou L, Michelot JL, Vengosh A, Hsissou Y, Qurtobi M, Gaye CB, Bullen TD, Zuppi GM. Application of multiple isotopic and geochemical tracers for investigation of recharge, salinization, and residence time of water in the Souss-Massa aquifer, southwest of Morocco,” Journal of Hydrology. 2008; 352 (3–4): 267–287.
[14]. Vengosh A, Gill J, Davisson M. L, Hudson GB. A multi-isotope (B, Sr, O, H, and C) and age dating (3H – 3He and C) study of groundwater from Salinas Valley, California: Hydrochemistry, dynamics, and contamination processes. Water Resources Research. 2002; 38 (1). 1-17.
[15]. Bhandary H, Al-Senafy M, Marzouk F. Usage of Carbon Isotopes in Characterizing Groundwater Age, Flow Direction, Flow Velocity and Recharge Area. Procedia Environ. Sci. 2015; 25: 28–35.
[16]. Lai Y, Song S, Lo C, Lin T, Chu M, Chung S. Age, geochemical and isotopic variations in volcanic rocks from the Coastal Range of Taiwan: Implications for magma generation in the Northern Luzon Arc. Lithos. 2017; (272–273): 92–115.
Iranian journal of Ecohydrology
Volume 6, Issue 4
January 2020
Pages 1099-1108

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 23 September 2019
  • Revise Date: 15 December 2019
  • Accept Date: 15 December 2019
  • First Publish Date: 22 December 2019
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2019

Share

How to cite

Statistics