Annual environmental tritium variation within Piedmont Province streamflow
- Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States). Dept. of Geology
Groundwater flow in the Piedmont Province occurs within local fractured crystalline bedrock aquifers mantled by a porous regolith, comprised predominantly of saprolite. Annual tritium concentration variation was studied within baseflow of the Upper Ocmulgee basin (Georgia) during the 1991 water year in order to better constrain the residence time of groundwater within the regolith--the principal storage reservoir for groundwater within the Piedmont region. Baseflow tritium concentration typically varied between 20--30 tritium units (T.U.); approximately twice that of weighted-annual precipitation during the period of study and for the past two decades. Similar annual trends were observed within three water-sheds which varied between 6.5 and 350 sq. km. Tritium concentrations were highest at the beginning of the water year (24--31 T.U.) and were diluted by 17--22% during the fall, coincident with only a minor amount of rainfall. Above-normal rainfall during the late spring and summer did not result in an appreciable input of new water. A statistical treatment of the data indicates that the mean residence time of baseflow (and assumably deeper groundwater) is approximately 15--35 years. Furthermore, these waters are likely comprised of a large standard distribution of ages. This mixing is likely the result of considerable attenuation within the clay-rich saprolite during a recharge. The significant difference between tritium concentrations within baseflow and present rainfall suggests that this isotope can be used to address many hydrological problems.
- OSTI ID:
- 5642658
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921058-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 24:7; Conference: 1992 annual meeting of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Cincinnati, OH (United States), 26-29 Oct 1992; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
AQUIFERS
HYDROLOGY
GEORGIA
WATERSHEDS
TRITIUM
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
AGE ESTIMATION
GROUND WATER
RAIN
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
USA
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
540230* - Environment
Terrestrial- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)