Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Field Degassing as a New Sampling Method for 14C Analyses in Old Groundwater

Journal Article · · Radiocarbon
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [1];  [5]
  1. The Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  2. Univ. of Bern, Bern (Switzerland)
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)
  4. Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem (Israel); Ben Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede Boqer (Israel)
  5. Ben Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede Boqer (Israel)
  6. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Anhui (China)
  7. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States); Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Anhui (China)
  8. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Radiocarbon (14C) activity in groundwater can be used to determine subsurface residence time up to ~40 kyr, providing crucial information on dynamic properties of groundwater and on paleoclimate. However, commonly applied sampling methods for dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC-14C) are prone to low level of modern atmospheric contamination, resulting in underestimation of groundwater ages that cluster around 30–40 kyr. We extract CO2 gas from groundwater using a device originally developed for studies of noble gas radionuclides. Carbon is collected in the gas phase, eliminating the possibility of fostering microbial activities and aqueous chemical reactions during sample storage. This method collects CO2-14C and radiokrypton (81Kr and85Kr) samples simultaneously. The presence of any shorter-lived 85Kr is used to evaluate the degree of atmospheric contamination during sampling or mixing of young groundwater. Most groundwater samples showed lower CO2-14C activities than those of DIC-14C, presumably due to the absence of atmospheric contamination. Samples with 81Kr age exceeding 150 kyr have no detectable CO2-14C except where mixing sources of young groundwater is suspected. Furthermore these field data serve as confirmations for the reliability of the newly presented sample collection and CO2-14C method, and for the outstanding roles of radiokrypton isotopes in characterizing old groundwater.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP); National Science Foundation (NSF); United States - Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1405323
Journal Information:
Radiocarbon, Vol. 2017; ISSN 0033-8222
Publisher:
Cambridge University PressCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 11 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (40)

Rapid extraction of dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater and groundwater samples for radiocarbon dating: Rapid extraction of DI journal October 2015
Evolution of brackish groundater in a typical arid region: Northern Arava Rift Valley, southern Israel journal July 1992
A Gas Ion Source for Radiocarbon Measurements at 200 kV journal January 2007
TIC, TOC, DIC, DOC, PIC, POC — unique aspects in the preparation of oceanographic samples for 14C-AMS journal June 1994
A new compilation of the atmospheric 85krypton inventories from 1945 to 2000 and its evaluation in a global transport model journal January 2005
Groundwater reorganization in the Floridan aquifer following Holocene sea-level rise journal September 2010
Carbon kinetic isotope effects on the hydration of carbon dioxide and the dehydration of bicarbonate ion journal September 1984
Recent developments on field gas extraction and sample preparation methods for radiokrypton dating of groundwater journal September 2016
Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry journal November 1984
Lower Groundwater 14 C Age by Atmospheric CO 2 Uptake During Sampling and Analysis : P.K. Aggarwal et al. Ground Water xx, no. x: xx-xx journal August 2013
Method for Purification of Krypton from Environmental Samples for Analysis of Radiokrypton Isotopes journal November 2008
Desert isotope hydrology: Water sources of the Sinai Desert journal July 1974
Update and improvement of the global krypton-85 emission inventory journal January 2013
Radiocarbon Variability in Groundwater in an Extremely Arid Zone—The Arava Valley, Israel journal January 2013
New isotopic evidence for the origin of groundwater from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer in the Negev, Israel journal May 2007
Noble gas radionuclides in Yellowstone geothermal gas emissions: A reconnaissance journal February 2013
AMS measurement of samples smaller than 300μg at center for applied isotope studies, University of Georgia
  • Cherkinsky, Alexander; Ravi Prasad, G. V.; Dvoracek, Doug
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 294 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2012.09.030
journal January 2013
The hydrochemical evolution of brackish groundwater in central and northern Sinai (Egypt) and in the western Negev (Israel) journal April 2007
Ultrasensitive Isotope Trace Analyses with a Magneto-Optical Trap journal November 1999
Dissociation constants of carbonic acid in seawater as a function of salinity and temperature journal June 2006
Tracer applications of noble gas radionuclides in the geosciences journal November 2014
On the ancient water of the upper Nubian sandstone aquifer in Central Sinai and southern Israel journal December 1972
Stable carbon isotope ratios and the existence of a gas phase in the evolution of carbonate ground waters journal July 1974
Rehovot Radiocarbon Measurements III journal January 1987
An atom counter for measuring 81Kr and 85Kr in environmental samples journal August 2012
Rapid sample preparation of dissolved inorganic carbon in natural waters using a headspace-extraction approach for radiocarbon analysis by accelerator mass spectrometry: Rapid journal April 2014
Radiocarbon dating of dissolved inorganic carbon in groundwater from confined parts of the Upper Floridan aquifer, Florida, USA journal April 2001
Comparison of 14 C Collected by Precipitation and Gas-Strip Methods for Dating Groundwater journal March 2016
Carbon dioxide in water and seawater: the solubility of a non-ideal gas journal November 1974
On-line Radiocarbon Measurements of Small Samples Using Elemental Analyzer and MICADAS Gas Ion Source journal January 2010
The interaction of two major old water bodies and its implication for the exploitation of groundwater in the multiple aquifer system of the central and northern Negev, Israel journal March 1993
A world model of soil carbon dioxide journal January 1983
Quantitative assessment of the flow pattern in the southern Arava Valley (Israel) by environmental tracers and a mixing cell model journal August 1992
A review of single-sample-based models and other approaches for radiocarbon dating of dissolved inorganic carbon in groundwater journal January 2016
Radiocarbon Determinations for Estimating Groundwater Flow Velocities in Central Florida journal April 1965
Annual variability in the radiocarbon age and source of dissolved CO2 in a peatland stream journal June 2012
A new method of measuring 81 Kr and 85 Kr abundances in environmental samples journal October 2003
Optical Detection of Radiocarbon Dioxide: First Results and AMS Intercomparison journal January 2013
A new field approach for the collection of samples for aquatic 14 CO 2 analysis using headspace equilibration and molecular sieve traps: the super headspace method: Collection of Samples for Aquatic 14 CO 2 Analysis journal June 2016
Constraining the age distribution of highly mixed groundwater using 39 Ar: A multiple environmental tracer ( 3 H/ 3 He, 85 Kr, 39 Ar, and 14 C) study in the semiconfined Fontainebleau Sands Aquifer (France) : CONSTRAINING THE AGE OF GROUNDWATER journal March 2007

Cited By (3)

14 C‐Free Carbon Is a Major Contributor to Cellular Biomass in Geochemically Distinct Groundwater of Shallow Sedimentary Bedrock Aquifers journal March 2019
Radiokrypton unveils dual moisture sources of a deep desert aquifer journal July 2019
Radiokrypton unveils dual moisture sources of a deep desert aquifer text January 2019

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES