Delineation of Fast Flow Paths in Porous Media Using Noble Gas Tracers

摘要

Isotopically enriched xenon isotopes are ideal for tracking the flow of relatively large volumes of groundwater. Dissolved noble gas tracers behave conservatively in the saturated zone, pose no health risk to drinking water supplies, and can be used with a large dynamic range. Different Xe isotopes can be used simultaneously at multiple recharge sources in a single experiment. Results from a tracer experiment at a California water district suggests that a small fraction of tracer moved from the recharge ponds through the thick, unconfined, coarse-grained alluvial aquifer to high capacity production wells at a horizontal velocity of 6 m/day. In contrast, mean water residence times indicate that the average rate of transport is 0.5 to 1 m/day.