Gas exchange rates for a first-order stream determined with deliberate and natural tracers
- Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (USA)
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
Gas transfer velocities have been determined for a first-order stream by performing a 3-hour release of the volatile tracer sulfur hexafluoride, SF{sub 6}, and the nonvolatile tracer tritiated water, {sup 3}H{sub 2}O. The average gas transfer velocity for the 292-m reach was 29 cm/h which corresponds to a reaction coefficient for oxygen at 25C of 134 day{sup {minus}1}. Groundwater inflow along the stream was corrected for by measuring the downstream dilution of the {sup 3}H{sub 2}O spike. Downstream discharge increased from 0.5 L/s, 2 m downstream of the point of tracer release, to 19.3 L/s at a point 292 m downstream. As an alternative to using (radioactive) {sup 3}H{sub 2}O, the authors investigated the possibility of using natural radon, {sup 222}Rn, as a groundwater tag and using the variation of SF{sub 6} and {sup 222}Rn along the stream to determine gas exchange rates and groundwater inflow. The method yielded an average transfer velocity of 21 cm/h and underestimated the groundwater inflow by a factor of 3. This large discrepancy is attributed to a doubling of stream discharge between the time the stream was sampled for radon and the tracer experiment and the limited number of radon samples.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 5395204
- Journal Information:
- Water Resources Research; (United States), Vol. 26:7; ISSN 0043-1397
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GASES
MASS TRANSFER
GROUND WATER
FLUID FLOW
STREAMS
AIR-WATER INTERACTIONS
RADON 222
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
VELOCITY
WATER QUALITY
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FLUIDS
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RADON ISOTOPES
SURFACE WATERS
WATER
540311* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- Radiometric Techniques- (1990-)