Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating

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

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120

Title: Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating

Journal Article · 28 January 2020 · Earth and Planetary Science Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116120 · OSTI ID:1596669

^[1]; Zouari, Kamel ^[2]; Trabelsi, Rim ^[2]; Hillegonds, Darren ^[3]; Jiang, Wei ^[4]; Lu, Zheng-Tian ^[4]; Mueller, Peter ^[5]; Zappala, Jake C. ^[5]; Araguás Araguás, Luis J. ^[1]; Romeo, Nicolo ^[1]; Agoun, Aissa ^[6]

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)

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.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: 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)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1596669

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1595499

Journal Information:: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 535, Issue C; ISSN 0012-821X

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
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Title: Krypton-81 dating of the deep Continental Intercalaire aquifer with implications for chlorine-36 dating

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