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Ram R, Adar EM, Yechieli Y, Yokochi R, Aeschbach W, Armon M, Solomon DK, Purtschert R, Seltzer AM, Urbach KL, Bishof M, Mueller P, Zappala JC, Jiang W, Lu ZT, Reznik IJ. Deep desert aquifers as an archive for Mid- to Late Pleistocene hydroclimate: An example from the southeastern Mediterranean. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 951:175737. [PMID: 39187079 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2024] [Revised: 08/19/2024] [Accepted: 08/21/2024] [Indexed: 08/28/2024]
Abstract
Many efforts have been made to illuminate the nature of past hydroclimates in semi-arid and arid regions, where current and future shifts in water availability have enormous consequences on human subsistence. Deep desert aquifers, where groundwater is stored for prolonged periods, might serve as a direct record of major paleo-recharge events. To date, groundwater-based paleoclimate reconstructions have mainly focused on a relatively narrow timescale (up to ∼40 kyr), limited by the relatively short half-life of the widely used radiocarbon (5.73 kyr). Here we demonstrate the usage of deep regional aquifers in the arid southeastern Mediterranean as a hydroclimate archive for earlier Mid-to-Late Pleistocene epochs. State-of-the-art dating tools, primarily the 81Kr radioisotope (t1/2 = 229 kyr), were combined with other atmosphere-derived tracers to illuminate the impact of four distinguishable wetter episodes over the past 400 kyr, with differences in climatic conditions and paleo-recharge locations. Variations in stable water isotope composition suggest moisture transport from more proximal (Mediterranean) and distal (Atlantic) sources to different parts of the region at distinct times. Large variability in the computed noble gas-based recharge temperature (NGT), ranging ~15-30 °C, cannot be explained by climate variations solely, and points to different recharge pathways, including geothermal heating in the deep unsaturated zone and recharge from high-elevation (colder) regions. The obtained groundwater record complements and enhances the interpretation of other terrestrial archives in the arid region, including a contribution of valuable information regarding the moisture source origin as reflected in the deuterium-excess values, which is unattainable from the common practice analysis of calcitic cave deposits. We conclude that similar applications in other deep (hundred-m-order) regional groundwater systems (e.g., the Sahara desert aquifers) can significantly advance our understanding of long-term (up to 1 Myr) paleo-hydroclimate in arid regions, including places where no terrestrial remnants, such as cave, lake, and spring sediments, are available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roi Ram
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel; Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
| | - Eilon M Adar
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, Israel
| | - Yoseph Yechieli
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede-Boqer Campus, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Reika Yokochi
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Werner Aeschbach
- Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Moshe Armon
- Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D Kip Solomon
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Roland Purtschert
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Alan M Seltzer
- Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA, USA
| | - Kerstin L Urbach
- Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Michael Bishof
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Peter Mueller
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Jake C Zappala
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, USA
| | - Wei Jiang
- Hefei National Laboratory, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Zheng-Tian Lu
- Hefei National Laboratory, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
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Ohta T, Hasegawa T, Jiang W, Yang GM, Lu ZT, Mahara Y. Feasibility of 129I groundwater dating calibrated by both 81Kr and 4He for the assessment of deep geological repositories in Japan. Sci Rep 2024; 14:15688. [PMID: 38977764 PMCID: PMC11231164 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-66250-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2024] [Indexed: 07/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Iodine-129, which is a promising tracer for dating old groundwater, has been used as a tracer for deep upwelling groundwater. The nuclide is expected to be one of the key factors for site selection for high-level radioactive waste disposal, which is a global societal issue. The pre-anthropogenic 129I/127I ratio for marine iodine is (1.50 ± 0.15) × 10-12, which could be considered the initial value for 129I dating. This study identifies the challenges in groundwater age dating using 129I/127I. We measured the ratios of 129I/127I and 81Kr/Kr and concentration of 4He in groundwater from boreholes on the northern coast of Japan. The 129I dating results were not coincident with the other groundwater dating results. The iodine in the groundwater was inferred to be released in situ from marine organisms in sediments of various ages. We estimated that the primordial iodine ratio originating from seawater was ~ 1 × 10-13 (8 × 10-14 ~ 2 × 10-13). The groundwater age deduced from the 129I/127I ratio using this value agrees with other groundwater dating results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomoko Ohta
- Civil Engineering Research Laboratory (Sustainable System Research Laboratory), Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Abiko, Chiba, 270-1176, Japan.
- Department of Nuclear Technology, Nagaoka University of Technology, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan.
| | - Takuma Hasegawa
- Civil Engineering Research Laboratory (Sustainable System Research Laboratory), Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Abiko, Chiba, 270-1176, Japan
| | - Wei Jiang
- CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
- Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230088, China
| | - Guo Min Yang
- CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
- Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230088, China
| | - Zheng-Tian Lu
- CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
- Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230088, China
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Romeo N, Mabry J, Hillegonds D, Kainz G, Jaklitsch M, Matsumoto T. Developments of a field gas extraction device and krypton purification system for groundwater radio-krypton dating at the IAEA. Appl Radiat Isot 2022; 189:110450. [PMID: 36137482 DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2022.110450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The long-lived radio-krypton isotope 81Kr (t1/2 = 2.29 × 105 yr) is an ideal tracer for old groundwater age dating in the range of 105-106 years which goes beyond the reach of radio-carbon (14C) age dating. Analytical breakthrough made over the last two decades in Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) has enabled the use of this isotope with extremely low abundance (81Kr/Kr = 6 × 10-13) to be used as a practical dating tool for very old groundwater. The International Atomic Energy Agency aims to provide this new isotope tool for better groundwater resource management of Member States and developed a field sampling device to collect dissolved gas samples from groundwater and a system to separate and purify trace amounts of krypton from the gas samples for the ATTA analysis. The design, setup and performances of our sampling and purification systems are described here. Our system can produce a high purity aliquot of about 5 μL of krypton from 5 L of air sample (recovery yield of >90%). The samples made by our system were confirmed to be acceptable for the ATTA analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolo Romeo
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
| | - Jennifer Mabry
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
| | - Darren Hillegonds
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria; Noble Gas Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, University of Oxford, Department of Earth Sciences, UK
| | - Gerhard Kainz
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
| | - Manfred Jaklitsch
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
| | - Takuya Matsumoto
- Isotope Hydrology Laboratory, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
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Ram R, Purtschert R, Adar EM, Bishof M, Jiang W, Lu ZT, Mueller P, Sy A, Vockenhuber C, Yechieli Y, Yokochi R, Zappala JC, Burg A. Controls on the 36Cl/Cl input ratio of paleo-groundwater in arid environments: New evidence from 81Kr/Kr data. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2021; 762:144106. [PMID: 33373751 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2020] [Revised: 11/06/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Measurements of the long-lived 81Kr and 36Cl radioisotopes in groundwater from the Negev Desert (Israel) were used to assess the 36Cl/Cl input ratios and Cl- contents for paleorecharge into the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer (NSA). The reconstructed Cl- content of the recharge flux was on the order of 300-400 mg/L. An initial 36Cl/Cl ratio of 50 × 10-15 was assessed for the groundwater replenishment in the Negev Desert since the late Pleistocene, in agreement with the 36Cl/Cl ratios in recent local rainwater. This is despite possible changes in the climatic conditions and the 36Cl production rates in the atmosphere over this timeframe. This similarity in values is explained by the major role played by the erosion and weathering of near-surface materials in the desert environment that dominate the hydrochemistry of rains, floods, and the consequent groundwater recharge. Spatial variation in the reconstructed initial 36Cl/Cl ratio is accounted for by the differences in the mineral aerosol sources for specific recharge areas of the NSA. Accordingly, regional variations in the 36Cl/Cl input in groundwater reservoirs surrounding the Mediterranean Sea indicate various processes that govern the 36Cl/Cl system. Finally, the results of this study highlight the great advantage of integrating 81Kr age information in evaluating the initial 36Cl/Cl and Cl- input, which is essential for the calibration of 36Cl radioisotope as an available long-term dating tool for a given basin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roi Ram
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben Gurion 8499000, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yeshayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem 9692100, Israel.
| | - Roland Purtschert
- Climate and Environmental Physics, Physics Institute, University of Bern, Hochschulstrasse 6, Bern 3012, Switzerland
| | - Eilon M Adar
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben Gurion 8499000, Israel
| | - Michael Bishof
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
| | - Wei Jiang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 JinZhai Rd., Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - Zheng-Tian Lu
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, 96 JinZhai Rd., Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
| | - Peter Mueller
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
| | - Adrien Sy
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Christof Vockenhuber
- Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, Zurich 8093, Switzerland
| | - Yoseph Yechieli
- Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Midreshet Ben Gurion 8499000, Israel; Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yeshayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem 9692100, Israel
| | - Reika Yokochi
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, The University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jake C Zappala
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Avenue, Lemont, IL 60439, USA; Department of Physics and Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Avihu Burg
- Geological Survey of Israel, 32 Yeshayahu Leibowitz St., Jerusalem 9692100, Israel
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