Intercomparison of tritium and noble gases analyses, 3H/3He ages and derived parameters excess air and recharge temperature

International audienceGroundwater age dating with the tritium-helium (3H/3He) method has become a powerful tool for hydrogeologists. The uncertainty of the apparent 3H/3He age depends on the analytical precision of the 3H measurement and the uncertainty of the tritiogenic 3He component. The goal of this study, as part of the groundwater age-dating interlaboratory comparison exercise, was to quantify the analytical uncertainty of the 3H and noble gas measurements and to assess whether they meet the requirements for 3H/3He dating and noble gas paleotemperature reconstruction. Samples for the groundwater dating intercomparison exercise were collected on 1 February, 2012, from three previously studied wells in the Paris Basin (France). Fourteen laboratories participated in the intercomparison for tritium analyses and ten laboratories participated in the noble gas intercomparison. Not all laboratories analyzed samples from every borehole. The reproducibility of the tritium measurements was 13.5%. The reproducibility of the 3He/4He ratio and 4He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe concentrations was 1.4%, 1.8%, 1.5%, 2.2%, 2.9%, and 2.4% respectively. The uncertainty of the tritium and noble gas measurements results in a typical 3H/3He age precision of better than 2.5 years in this case. However, the measurement uncertainties for the noble gas concentrations are insufficient to distinguish the appropriate excess air model if the measured helium concentration is not included. While the analytical uncertainty introduces an unavoidable source of uncertainty in the 3H/3He apparent age estimate, other sources of uncertainty are often much greater and less well defined than the analytical uncertainty

Selenium isotope geochemistry: A new approach to characterizing the environmental chemistry of selenium. Final report

High levels of selenium in the environment will be a prominent water quality issue in the western United States for many years. Selenium accumulation is linked to increased rates of death and deformity in migratory birds, blind staggers in livestock, and selenosis in humans. In California, agricultural drain waters and oil refinery effluent contribute to high selenium content in the San Joaquin Valley and the San Francisco Bay. The importance of these industries to California`s economy precludes simple abatement, while the complexity of selenium cycling precludes simple remediation. The purpose of this project is to measure variations in the isotopic composition of selenium in water and soil samples caused by natural processes and to show, for the first time, the value of isotopic measurements in characterizing selenium pollution. The research seeks to identify sources of selenium pollution, determine processes in the selenium cycle, and support selenium remediation studies. The project required the successful integration of three components: (1) appropriate sampling a field setting showing Se enrichment and possibly isotopic fractionation, (2) analytical chemical methods for isolating and purifying the various species of Se in waters and sediment, and (3) mass spectroscopic instrumentation for high precision isotope abundance measurements

Circulating microRNAs in sera correlate with soluble biomarkers of immune activation but do not predict mortality in ART treated individuals with HIV-1 infection: A case control study

10.1371/journal.pone.0139981PLoS ONE1010e013998