Short-lived natural radionuclides as tracers in hydrogeological studies - A review.

Autor: Schubert M; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ, Department Catchment Hydrology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. Electronic address: michael.schubert@ufz.de., Lin M; State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry and CAS Center for Excellence in Deep Earth Science, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China., Clark JF; Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA., Kralik M; Department Umweltgeowissenchaften, Division of Environmental Geosciences (EDGE) Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, UZA II, Vienna A-1090, Austria., Damatto S; Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN), Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242 Cidade Universitaria, 05508-000 Sao Paulo, Brazil., Copia L; International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria., Terzer-Wassmuth S; International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria., Harjung A; International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Apr 10; Vol. 920, pp. 170800. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Feb 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170800
Abstrakt: Fundamental approaches to the study of groundwater rely on investigating the spatial and temporal distribution of stable and radioactive isotopes and other anthropogenic compounds in natural waterbodies. The most often used tracers for estimating groundwater flow paths and residence times, groundwater/surface water interaction as well as tracing chemical (contamination) sources include stable isotopes of water (δ 18 O and δ 2 H), radiocarbon ( 14 C; t 1/2  = 5730 a), tritium ( 3 H; t 1/2  = 12.43 a) as well as unreactive fluorine-containing gases (e.g., chlorofluorocarbons CCl 3 F or CFC-11; CCl 2 F 3 or CFC-12; C 2 Cl 3 F 3 or CFC-113; and SF 6 ). While gas tracers are usually referred to as transient tracers and are appropriate for investigating modern flow systems, the isotopic tracers are often used to investigated paleo or regional flow systems. Stable isotopes of water can also be used to investigate groundwater/surface water interactions. Another, thus far been less frequently used group of groundwater tracers, are cosmo- and geo- genic short-lived radioisotopes. These isotopes are uniquely suited for studying a wide range of groundwater problems that have short time scales including high aquifer vulnerability to quantitative and qualitative impacts and groundwater discharge to surface waters. Here, we discuss and compare the applications of radio‑sulphur ( 35 S; half-life t 1/2  = 87 d), radio‑beryllium ( 7 Be; t 1/2  = 53 d), radio‑phosphorus ( 32/33 P; combined t 1/2  = 33 d), natural tritium ( 3 H; t 1/2  = 12.43 a), radon ( 222 Rn; t 1/2  = 3.8 d) and short-lived radium ( 224/223 Ra; combined t 1/2  = 5.2 d). The paper discusses the principles of the individual tracer methods, focusing on the isotopes' input functions or values, on sampling techniques, and on methods of analyses. Case studies that applied a combined use of the tracers are referred to for readers who wish to learn more about the application of the so far underused cosmo- and geo- genic radioisotopes as aquatic tracers.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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