Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating
Abstract
Deep groundwater samples from the Continental Intercalaire (CI) aquifer in the Northern Tunisian Sahara have been analyzed for noble gases 3He, 4He, Ne and 81Kr, and for 14C to better constrain the groundwater residence time of this large transboundary aquifer. Its significant radiogenic 4He content and background-level 14C both indicate water older than a few tens of thousands of years. Distinct helium concentrations and Ne/He ratios suggest different groundwater flow paths through the Tozeur and Kebili regions. 81Kr is applied for the first time on the CI aquifer, providing more direct evidence for the presence of old groundwater with 81Kr/Kr ratios at 63% – 15% of the atmospheric value, corresponding to residence times of 150 – 630 ka. These newly obtained 81Kr ages enable a re-evaluation of the previously reported data from the Tozeur region in order to better constrain the input values of 36Cl/Cl and Cl. The initial 36Cl/Cl ratio is found to be 4 – 6 times larger than previously assumed, and the initial Cl concentration 6 – 15 times smaller. The results of 81Kr dating and the recalibrated 36Cl dating define an eastward age progression across > 500 km of flow path from the Algerian to Tunisianmore »
- Authors:
-
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)
- Univ. of Sfax, Sfax (Tunisia)
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria); Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
- Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Directorate General of Water Resources (DGRE), Tunis (Tunisia)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Key Research and Development Program of China; Chinese Academy of Sciences; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1596669
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1595499
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 535; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0012-821X
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; groundwater dating; noble gas; carbon 14; krypton-81; atom trap trace analysis; intercalaire aquifer
Citation Formats
Matsumoto, Takuya, Zouari, Kamel, Trabelsi, Rim, Hillegonds, Darren, Jiang, Wei, Lu, Zheng-Tian, Mueller, Peter, Zappala, Jake C., Araguás Araguás, Luis J., Romeo, Nicolo, and Agoun, Aissa. Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120.
Matsumoto, Takuya, Zouari, Kamel, Trabelsi, Rim, Hillegonds, Darren, Jiang, Wei, Lu, Zheng-Tian, Mueller, Peter, Zappala, Jake C., Araguás Araguás, Luis J., Romeo, Nicolo, & Agoun, Aissa. Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120
Matsumoto, Takuya, Zouari, Kamel, Trabelsi, Rim, Hillegonds, Darren, Jiang, Wei, Lu, Zheng-Tian, Mueller, Peter, Zappala, Jake C., Araguás Araguás, Luis J., Romeo, Nicolo, and Agoun, Aissa. Tue .
"Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1596669.
@article{osti_1596669,
title = {Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating},
author = {Matsumoto, Takuya and Zouari, Kamel and Trabelsi, Rim and Hillegonds, Darren and Jiang, Wei and Lu, Zheng-Tian and Mueller, Peter and Zappala, Jake C. and Araguás Araguás, Luis J. and Romeo, Nicolo and Agoun, Aissa},
abstractNote = {Deep groundwater samples from the Continental Intercalaire (CI) aquifer in the Northern Tunisian Sahara have been analyzed for noble gases 3He, 4He, Ne and 81Kr, and for 14C to better constrain the groundwater residence time of this large transboundary aquifer. Its significant radiogenic 4He content and background-level 14C both indicate water older than a few tens of thousands of years. Distinct helium concentrations and Ne/He ratios suggest different groundwater flow paths through the Tozeur and Kebili regions. 81Kr is applied for the first time on the CI aquifer, providing more direct evidence for the presence of old groundwater with 81Kr/Kr ratios at 63% – 15% of the atmospheric value, corresponding to residence times of 150 – 630 ka. These newly obtained 81Kr ages enable a re-evaluation of the previously reported data from the Tozeur region in order to better constrain the input values of 36Cl/Cl and Cl. The initial 36Cl/Cl ratio is found to be 4 – 6 times larger than previously assumed, and the initial Cl concentration 6 – 15 times smaller. The results of 81Kr dating and the recalibrated 36Cl dating define an eastward age progression across > 500 km of flow path from the Algerian to Tunisian sections. Here, this study exemplifies the utility of 81Kr not only as an independent and conservative chronometer, but also as a supplemental measurement to better calibrate the parameters required for other age tracers, including cosmogenic 36Cl and radiogenic 4He.},
doi = {10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120},
journal = {Earth and Planetary Science Letters},
number = C,
volume = 535,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {1}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
Caractérisation hydrogéochimique de la nappe du Continental Intercalaire (sud tunisien) / Hydrogeochemical characterization of the Continental Intercalaire aquifer (southern Tunisia)
journal, June 2009
- Abid, Kamel; Trabelsi, Rim; Zouari, Kamel
- Hydrological Sciences Journal, Vol. 54, Issue 3
Identification and characterisation of hydrogeological relays of continental intercalaire aquifer of southern Tunisia
journal, February 2010
- Abid, K.; Zouari, K.; Abidi, B.
- Carbonates and Evaporites, Vol. 25, Issue 1
Hydrologic and geologic factors controlling groundwater geochemistry in the Turonian aquifer (southern Tunisia)
journal, November 2010
- Abid, Kamel; Zouari, Kamel; Dulinski, Marek
- Hydrogeology Journal, Vol. 19, Issue 2
Relationship between Senonian and deep aquifers in Southern Tunisia
journal, April 2012
- Abid, Kamel; Ammar, Friha Hadj; Chkir, Najiba
- Quaternary International, Vol. 257
Continental degassing of 4He by surficial discharge of deep groundwater
journal, December 2014
- Aggarwal, Pradeep K.; Matsumoto, Takuya; Sturchio, Neil C.
- Nature Geoscience, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Geomagnetic Modulation of the 36Cl Flux in the GRIP Ice Core, Greenland
journal, February 1998
- Baumgartner, S.
- Science, Vol. 279, Issue 5355
Chlorine 36 dating of very old groundwater: 1. The Great Artesian Basin, Australia
journal, December 1986
- Bentley, Harold W.; Phillips, Fred M.; Davis, Stanley N.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 22, Issue 13
Ultrasensitive Isotope Trace Analyses with a Magneto-Optical Trap
journal, November 1999
- Chen, C. Y.
- Science, Vol. 286, Issue 5442
Uranium isotopic disequilibrium for groundwater classification: first results on complexe terminal and continental intercalaire aquifers in Southern Tunisia
journal, March 2007
- Chkir, N.; Zouari, K.
- Environmental Geology, Vol. 53, Issue 3
81Kr in the Great Artesian Basin, Australia: a new method for dating very old groundwater
journal, October 2000
- Collon, P.; Kutschera, W.; Loosli, H. H.
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 182, Issue 1
Chlorine-36 in groundwater of the United States: empirical data
journal, April 2003
- Davis, Stanley N.; Moysey, Stephen; Cecil, DeWayne L.
- Hydrogeology Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 2
Preparing and measuring ultra-small radiocarbon samples with the ARTEMIS AMS facility in Saclay, France
journal, January 2013
- Delqué-Količ, E.; Comby-Zerbino, C.; Ferkane, S.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 294
Hydrochemical and isotopic investigations as indicators of recharge processes of the Continental Intercalaire aquifer (eastern piedmont of Dahar, southern Tunisia)
journal, August 2016
- Dhaoui, Zahra; Zouari, Kamel; Taupin, Jean-Denis
- Environmental Earth Sciences, Vol. 75, Issue 16
Groundwater evolution in the Continental Intercalaire aquifer of southern Algeria and Tunisia: trace element and isotopic indicators
journal, June 2003
- Edmunds, W. M.; Guendouz, A. H.; Mamou, A.
- Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 18, Issue 6
A Contribution to the Interpretation of 14 C Groundwater Ages Considering the Example of a Partially Confined Sandstone Aquifer
journal, January 1983
- Eichinger, Lorenz
- Radiocarbon, Vol. 25, Issue 2
Applications of 129I and 36Cl in hydrology
journal, November 1987
- Fabryka-Martin, J.; Davis, S. N.; Elmore, D.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 29, Issue 1-2
Determination of the initial 14 C activity of the total dissolved carbon: A review of the existing models and a new approach
journal, April 1979
- Fontes, Jean-Charles; Garnier, Jean-Marie
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 15, Issue 2
Using 81Kr and noble gases to characterize and date groundwater and brines in the Baltic Artesian Basin on the one-million-year timescale
journal, May 2017
- Gerber, Christoph; Vaikmäe, Rein; Aeschbach, Werner
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 205
Chlorine-36 dating of deep groundwater from northern Sahara
journal, September 2006
- Guendouz, Abdelhamid; Michelot, Jean-Luc
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 328, Issue 3-4
An atom counter for measuring 81Kr and 85Kr in environmental samples
journal, August 2012
- Jiang, W.; Bailey, K.; Lu, Z.-T.
- Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, Vol. 91, p. 1-6
Geochemical and isotopic investigation of the aquifer system in the Djerid-Nefzaoua basin, southern Tunisia
journal, September 2005
- Kamel, Samir; Dassi, Lassaad; Zouari, Kamel
- Environmental Geology, Vol. 49, Issue 1
A comparison of groundwater dating with 81Kr, 36Cl and 4He in four wells of the Great Artesian Basin, Australia
journal, June 2003
- Lehmann, B. E.; Love, A.; Purtschert, R.
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 211, Issue 3-4
Tracer applications of noble gas radionuclides in the geosciences
journal, November 2014
- Lu, Z. -T.; Schlosser, P.; Smethie, W. M.
- Earth-Science Reviews, Vol. 138
The IAEA’s Coordinated Research Project on “Estimation of Groundwater Recharge and Discharge by Using the Tritium, Helium-3 Dating Technique”: In Lieu of a Preface
journal, January 2017
- Matsumoto, Takuya; Solomon, Douglas Kip; Araguás-Araguás, Luis
- GEOCHEMICAL JOURNAL, Vol. 51, Issue 5
Application of combined 81Kr and 4He chronometers to the dating of old groundwater in a tectonically active region of the North China Plain
journal, July 2018
- Matsumoto, Takuya; Chen, Zongyu; Wei, Wen
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 493
Updated geochemical and isotopic data from the Continental Intercalaire aquifer in the Great Occidental Erg sub-basin (south-western Algeria)
journal, April 2012
- Moulla, A. S.; Guendouz, A.; Cherchali, M. E. -H.
- Quaternary International, Vol. 257
Cross section measurements of proton induced reactions using a gas target
journal, June 1996
- Parrat, Y.; Hajdas, W.; Baltensperger, U.
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 113, Issue 1-4
Quantifying paleorecharge in the Continental Intercalaire (CI) aquifer by a Monte-Carlo inversion approach of data
journal, November 2014
- Petersen, J. O.; Deschamps, P.; Gonçalvès, J.
- Applied Geochemistry, Vol. 50
Groundwater flowpaths and residence times inferred by 14C, 36Cl and 4He isotopes in the Continental Intercalaire aquifer (North-Western Africa)
journal, May 2018
- Petersen, J. O.; Deschamps, P.; Hamelin, B.
- Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 560
Chlorine 36 dating of very old groundwater: 2. Milk River Aquifer, Alberta, Canada
journal, December 1986
- Phillips, Fred M.; Bentley, Harold W.; Davis, Stanley N.
- Water Resources Research, Vol. 22, Issue 13
Chlorine-36 in Fossil Rat Urine: An Archive of Cosmogenic Nuclide Deposition During the Past 40,000 Years
journal, July 1997
- Plummer, M. A.
- Science, Vol. 277, Issue 5325
Validity of radiocarbon dates on ground water
journal, April 1975
- Tamers, M. A.
- Geophysical Surveys, Vol. 2, Issue 2
Quantifying regional groundwater flow between Continental Intercalaire and Djeffara aquifers in southern Tunisia using isotope methods
journal, August 2008
- Trabelsi, Rim; Kacem, Abir; Zouari, Kamel
- Environmental Geology, Vol. 58, Issue 1
Trends, rhythms and events in Plio-Pleistocene African climate
journal, March 2009
- Trauth, Martin H.; Larrasoaña, Juan C.; Mudelsee, Manfred
- Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol. 28, Issue 5-6
Reconstruction of the paleoaccumulation rate of central Greenland during the last 75 kyr using the cosmogenic radionuclides 36Cl and 10Be and geomagnetic field intensity data
journal, December 2001
- Wagner, G.; Laj, C.; Beer, J.
- Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 193, Issue 3-4
Radiokrypton unveils dual moisture sources of a deep desert aquifer
journal, July 2019
- Yokochi, Reika; Ram, Roi; Zappala, Jake C.
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 33