Tracer profiles across argillaceous formations: A tool to constrain transport processes

摘要

The spatial distributions of non-reactive natural tracers (anions, stable water isotopes, noble gases) in pore water of clay-rich formations were studied at nine sites. Regular, curved tracer profiles were identified in most cases. Transport modeling considering diffusion, advection and available constraints on the paleo-hydrogeological evolution indicates generally that diffusion alone can explain the observations, whereas a marked advective component would distort the profiles and so is not consistent with the data.