CORE
🇺🇦
make metadata, not war
Services
Services overview
Explore all CORE services
Access to raw data
API
Dataset
FastSync
Content discovery
Recommender
Discovery
OAI identifiers
OAI Resolver
Managing content
Dashboard
Bespoke contracts
Consultancy services
Support us
Support us
Membership
Sponsorship
Community governance
Advisory Board
Board of supporters
Research network
About
About us
Our mission
Team
Blog
FAQs
Contact us
A Mountain‐Front Recharge Component Characterization Approach Combining Groundwater Age Distributions, Noble Gas Thermometry, and Fluid and Energy Transport Modeling
Authors
Anderson T. W.
Belan R. A.
+15 more
Davidson E. S.
Eastoe C. J.
Gieskes J. M.
Healy R. W.
Healy R. W.
Jurgens B. C.
Kalin R. M.
Kipp K. L.
Lappala E. G.
Mason D.
Merz A.
Mohrbacher C. J.
Olson M. C.
Plummer L. N.
Vogel J. C.
Publication date
11 December 2020
Publisher
'American Geophysical Union (AGU)'
Doi
Cite
Abstract
Mountain-front recharge (MFR), or all inflow to a basin-fill aquifer with its source in the mountain block, is an important component of recharge to basin-fill aquifer systems. Distinguishing and quantifying the surface from subsurface components of MFR is necessary for water resource planning and management, particularly as climate change may impact these components in distinct ways. This study tests the hypothesis that MFR components can be distinguished in long-screened, basin-fill production wells by (1) groundwater age and (2) the median elevation of recharge. We developed an MFR characterization approach by combining age distributions in six wells using tritium, krypton-85, argon-39, and radiocarbon, and median recharge elevations from noble gas thermometry combined with numerical experiments to determine recharge temperature lapse rates using flow and energy transport modeling. We found that groundwater age distributions provided valuable information for characterizing the dominant flow system behavior captured by the basin-fill production wells. Tracers indicated the presence of old (i.e., no detectable tritium) water in a well completed in weathered bedrock located close to the mountain front. Two production wells exhibited age distributions of binary mixing between modern and a small fraction of old water, whereas the remaining wells captured predominantly modern flow paths. Noble gas thermometry provided important complementary information to the age distributions; however, assuming constant recharge temperature lapse rates produced improbable recharge elevations. Numerical experiments suggest that surface MFR, if derived from snowmelt, can locally suppress water table temperatures in the basin-fill aquifer, with implications for recharge elevations estimated from noble gas thermometry. © 2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.National Science Foundation6 month embargo; first published online 11 December 2020This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at
[email protected]
Similar works
Full text
Open in the Core reader
Download PDF
Available Versions
Bern Open Repository and Information System (BORIS)
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:boris.unibe.ch:158661
Last time updated on 12/11/2021
Sustaining member
The University of Arizona
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
oai:repository.arizona.edu:101...
Last time updated on 20/03/2021
Crossref
See this paper in CORE
Go to the repository landing page
Download from data provider
Last time updated on 13/04/2021