Radioisotope Technique of Groundwater Dating using Tritium Enrichment

فصلنامه آب و توسعه پایدار

Article 13, Volume 4, Issue 1 - Serial Number 8, September 2017, Pages 99-106   

Document Type: review paper

DOI: 10.22067/jwsd.v4i1.55254

Authors

Iman Karimirad^{* 1}; Mosa Hesam²; Ali Bahrami samani³; Abdolmajid Ezadpanah⁴; Nafiseh Moghadasi²

¹Tehran

²Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources

³Atomic Energy Organization of Iran

⁴Golestan

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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