Radioisotope Technique of Groundwater Dating using Tritium Enrichment

Document Type : review paper

Authors

• Iman Karimirad ¹
• Mosa Hesam ²
• Ali Bahrami samani ³
• Abdolmajid Ezadpanah ⁴
• Nafiseh Moghadasi ²

¹ Tehran

² Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

³ Atomic Energy Organization of Iran

⁴ Golestan

https://doi.org/10.22067/jwsd.v4i1.55254

Abstract

Aquifer overexploitation can cause problems such as salt water intrusion and land subsidence. This condition drives the necessity for the optimal management of aquifers which requires an understanding of aquifer hydrodynamics. In this regard radioisotope dating is one of the useful methods. This paper presents a practical method to determine the age of groundwater using tritium radioisotope. The tritium dating of groundwater includes sampling, initial distillation, enrichment, secondary distillation, measurement of tritium radioactivity, calculation of device parameters, and age of the samples. The electrolytic enrichment method and radioactivity measurement using LSC, which is introduced in this paper, make it possible to measure tritium below 1 TU that means dating water up to 50 years and can overcome the problem of tritium concentration decline in the atmosphere to some extent. The results of a study performed using this method during spring 2012, with interior facilities of the country, showed that the age of the samples were divided into two groups of 5 to 10 years and the mixture of modern recharge and recharged before 1952. Therefore the young parts of aquifer are influenced more readily by qualitative and quantitative climatic and factors. On the contrary, territories with older water reserves are less affected by these changes and have a higher degree of reliability. In the allocation of such resources only the renewable volume should be considered. To achieve this objective imposition of restrictive policies of exploitation seem to be necessary in aquifer management plans.

Keywords

• Golestan province
• Confined aquifer
• Electrolytic enrichment
• Aquifer management
• LSC

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