Utilization of Environmental Isotope Systematics for the Investigation of Ground-Water Pumping Dynamics in the Piedmont Province

摘要

Systematic temporal isotopic (&(18)O and (3)H) and geochemical variation wasanalyzed within precipitation, shallow ground water, baseflow and deeper ground water from the southeastern Piedmont Province of Georgia. These samples, acquired predominantly during 1992, provide a valuable addition to a growing set of environmental isotopic data for this region. There was a substantial degree of isotopic variation (mostly random) observed between successive precipitation events; however, only a relatively small degree of variation was observed within shallow ground water, baseflow and deeper ground water acquired from four production wheels. There is little to infer from these data that ground-water pumping rates appreciably affects the age distribution (generally 15-35 years) of ground water within these small Piedmont basins. Ground water becomes isotopically well homogenized (however, not perfectly homogenized) as the result of dispersion and the exchange of water upon clay mineral surfaces.