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Title: Using strontium isotopes to evaluate the spatial variation of groundwater recharge

Abstract

Recharge of alluvial aquifers is a key component in understanding the interaction between floodplain vadose zone biogeochemistry and groundwater quality. The Rifle Site (a former U-mill tailings site) adjacent to the Colorado River is a well-established field laboratory that has been used for over a decade for the study of biogeochemical processes in the vadose zone and aquifer. This site is considered an exemplar of both a riparian floodplain in a semiarid region and a post-remediation U-tailings site. In this paper we present Sr isotopic data for groundwater and vadose zone porewater samples collected in May and July 2013 to build a mixing model for the fractional contribution of vadose zone porewater (i.e. recharge) to the aquifer and its variation across the site. The vadose zone porewater contribution to the aquifer ranged systematically from 0% to 38% and appears to be controlled largely by the microtopography of the site. The area-weighted average contribution across the site was 8% corresponding to a net recharge of 7.5 cm. Given a groundwater transport time across the site of ~1.5 to 3 years, this translates to a recharge rate between 5 and 2.5 cm/yr, and with the average precipitation to the site implies amore » loss from the vadose zone due to evapotranspiration of 83% to 92%, both ranges are in good agreement with previously published results by independent methods. A uranium isotopic (234U/238U activity ratios) mixing model for groundwater and surface water samples indicates that a ditch across the site is hydraulically connected to the aquifer and locally significantly affects groundwater. Groundwater samples with high U concentrations attributed to natural bio-reduced zones have 234U/238U activity ratios near 1, suggesting that the U currently being released to the aquifer originated from the former U-mill tailings.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1542323
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1548196
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; ACO2-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Science of the Total Environment
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 637-638; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0048-9697
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 58 GEOSCIENCES; 87Sr/86Sr; Uranium isotopes; semiarid environment; vadose zone; hydrology; microtopography

Citation Formats

Christensen, John N., Dafflon, Baptiste, Shiel, Alyssa E., Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Wan, Jiamin, Faybishenko, Boris, Dong, Wenming, Williams, Kenneth H., Hobson, Chad, Brown, Shaun T., and Hubbard, Susan S. Using strontium isotopes to evaluate the spatial variation of groundwater recharge. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.019.
Christensen, John N., Dafflon, Baptiste, Shiel, Alyssa E., Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Wan, Jiamin, Faybishenko, Boris, Dong, Wenming, Williams, Kenneth H., Hobson, Chad, Brown, Shaun T., & Hubbard, Susan S. Using strontium isotopes to evaluate the spatial variation of groundwater recharge. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.019
Christensen, John N., Dafflon, Baptiste, Shiel, Alyssa E., Tokunaga, Tetsu K., Wan, Jiamin, Faybishenko, Boris, Dong, Wenming, Williams, Kenneth H., Hobson, Chad, Brown, Shaun T., and Hubbard, Susan S. Fri . "Using strontium isotopes to evaluate the spatial variation of groundwater recharge". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.019. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1542323.
@article{osti_1542323,
title = {Using strontium isotopes to evaluate the spatial variation of groundwater recharge},
author = {Christensen, John N. and Dafflon, Baptiste and Shiel, Alyssa E. and Tokunaga, Tetsu K. and Wan, Jiamin and Faybishenko, Boris and Dong, Wenming and Williams, Kenneth H. and Hobson, Chad and Brown, Shaun T. and Hubbard, Susan S.},
abstractNote = {Recharge of alluvial aquifers is a key component in understanding the interaction between floodplain vadose zone biogeochemistry and groundwater quality. The Rifle Site (a former U-mill tailings site) adjacent to the Colorado River is a well-established field laboratory that has been used for over a decade for the study of biogeochemical processes in the vadose zone and aquifer. This site is considered an exemplar of both a riparian floodplain in a semiarid region and a post-remediation U-tailings site. In this paper we present Sr isotopic data for groundwater and vadose zone porewater samples collected in May and July 2013 to build a mixing model for the fractional contribution of vadose zone porewater (i.e. recharge) to the aquifer and its variation across the site. The vadose zone porewater contribution to the aquifer ranged systematically from 0% to 38% and appears to be controlled largely by the microtopography of the site. The area-weighted average contribution across the site was 8% corresponding to a net recharge of 7.5 cm. Given a groundwater transport time across the site of ~1.5 to 3 years, this translates to a recharge rate between 5 and 2.5 cm/yr, and with the average precipitation to the site implies a loss from the vadose zone due to evapotranspiration of 83% to 92%, both ranges are in good agreement with previously published results by independent methods. A uranium isotopic (234U/238U activity ratios) mixing model for groundwater and surface water samples indicates that a ditch across the site is hydraulically connected to the aquifer and locally significantly affects groundwater. Groundwater samples with high U concentrations attributed to natural bio-reduced zones have 234U/238U activity ratios near 1, suggesting that the U currently being released to the aquifer originated from the former U-mill tailings.},
doi = {10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.019},
journal = {Science of the Total Environment},
number = C,
volume = 637-638,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri May 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri May 11 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Cited by: 22 works
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