Significance of apparent discrepanices in water ages derived from atmospheric radionuclides at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Abstract

Cosmogenic {sup 36}Cl and {sup 14}C produced in the atmosphere are being used to estimate water residence times in the unsaturated zone at Yucca Mountain. Results thus far show a systematic discordance in that {sup 14}C-based ages are generally one to two orders of magnitude younger than {sup 36}Cl-based ages. This lack of concordance probably arises from one or more of the following reasons: (1) different transport mechanisms, e.g., vapor transport for {sup 14}C; (2) different magnitudes and timing of bomb-pulse signals; (3) mixing of waters from different flow paths; and (4) possibly inadequate methods for correcting for the effect of sample contamination by carbon or chlorine from sources other than the infiltrating water. Preliminary numerical simulation results using the FEHMN code suggest that spatial variation in infiltration rates can enhance lateral flow and mixing that leads to discordance in apparent ages depending on the dating technique. Examples are presented to show that disparate radiometric ages are inevitable and to be expected where mixing of waters of markedly different ages occurs