Groundwater age

347 Pages·2006·5.104 MB·English

by  Gholam A Kazemi, Jay H Lehr, Pierre Perrochet

GROUNDWATER AGE
GHOLAM A.KAZEMI
Faculty of Earth Sciences
Shahrood University of Technology,Iran
JAY H.LEHR,Ph.D.
Senior Scientist,Technical Advisory Board,EarthWater Global,LLC
and Senior Scientist,The Heartland Institute
PIERRE PERROCHET
Centre of Hydrogeology
University of Neuchâtel,Switzerland

A JOHN WILEY & SONS,INC.,PUBLICATION

GROUNDWATER AGE

GROUNDWATER AGE
GHOLAM A.KAZEMI
Faculty of Earth Sciences
Shahrood University of Technology,Iran
JAY H.LEHR,Ph.D.
Senior Scientist,Technical Advisory Board,EarthWater Global,LLC
and Senior Scientist,The Heartland Institute
PIERRE PERROCHET
Centre of Hydrogeology
University of Neuchâtel,Switzerland

A JOHN WILEY & SONS,INC.,PUBLICATION
Copyright © 2006 by John Wiley & Sons,Inc.All rights reserved
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData:
Kazemi,Gholam A.
Groundwater age / Gholam A.Kazemi,Jay H.Lehr,Pierre Perrochet.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13:978-0-471-71819-2 (cloth)
ISBN-10:0-471-71819-X (cloth)
1. Groundwater—Analysis. 2. Radioactive tracers in hydrogeology. I. Lehr,Jay H.
II. Perrochet,Pierre. III. Title.
GB1001.72.R34K39 2006
551.49—dc22
2005030770
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Wholeheartedly,I dedicate this book to Professor Hossein Mehdizadeh
Shahri,the founder of Geology at Shahrood University,a human giant and
an endless source of capital support for all around him.
G.A.Kazemi
My part of this book is dedicated posthumously to Dr.Paul Damon,
University of Arizona,who was a pioneer in the geologic use of radio
isotopes in the 1960s.He passed away in April 2005.
J.H.Lehr
My contribution to this book is dedicated to these special friends and
groundwater modelers of all ages—André,Attila,Christine,David,
Dominique,Ellen,Fabien,Ghislain,Hans,Jahan,Jaouhar,Jean-Christophe,
László,Laurent,Lloyd,Nari,Olivier,Peter,Philippe,Rachid,Ray,Rob,
Vincent and Yvan—who devote so much of their time and energy to the
mathematical analysis of hydrogeological processes.
P.Perrochet

CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Age and Lifetime, 1
1.2 Age Determination in Geology (Geochronology) and in Other
Disciplines, 3
1.2.1 Absolute Age and Relative Age, 3
1.2.2 Determination of Absolute Age of Rocks, 4
1.2.3 Geological Time Table, 4
1.3 Groundwater Age and Groundwater Residence Time, 6
1.3.1 Young,Old,and Very Old Groundwaters, 9
1.3.2 Dead Water and Active Water, 10
1.3.3 Age Gradient, 11

1.3.4 Age Mass, 11
1.3.5 Mixing,Dispersion,and Transport of Groundwater Age,
Mean Age,and Distribution of Ages, 12
1.3.6 Average Residence Time of Water in Various
Compartments of the Hydrologic Cycle, 14
1.3.7 Hydrogeochronolgy,Interdisciplinary Groundwater Age
Science,and Hydrologic Time Concept, 15
1.3.8 Event Markers, 15
1.4 Life Expectancy, 17
1.5 Isochrone and Life Expectancy Maps, 18
1.6 Some Groundwater Age-Related Terms, 19
vii
viii CONTENTS
1.6.1 Isotopic Age,Radiometric Age,and Decay Age, 19
1.6.2 Hydraulic Age, 21
1.6.3 Piston-Flow Age,Streamtube Age,and Advective Age, 22
1.6.4 Model Age and Apparent Age, 23
1.6.5 Storage Time,Mean Transit Time,Turnover Time,Flushing
Time,and Travel Time, 23
1.6.6 Reservoir Theory and Its Relation with Groundwater
Residence Time, 24
2 History of Groundwater Age-Dating Research 25
2.1 Pioneer of Groundwater Age Discipline—Sequence of the Earliest
Publications, 25
2.2 Laboratories Worldwide for Dating Groundwater Samples, 31
2.3 Major Contributors to Groundwater Age-Dating Discipline, 31
2.4 Names Familiar in the Groundwater Dating Business, 36
2.5 Important Publications, 37
2.5.1 Book Chapters, 38
2.5.2 Ph.D.and M.Sc.Theses, 40
2.5.3 Journals, 43
2.5.4 Reports (mainly by the USGS), 45
2.6 Aquifers Subjected to Extensive Dating Studies, 50
3 The Applications of Groundwater Age Data 51
3.1 Renewability of the Groundwater Reservoirs, 51
3.2 An Effective Communication Tool for Scientists and
Managers—and Curiosity to Laymen as Well, 53
3.3 Age Monitoring for the Prevention of Overexploitation and
Contamination of Aquifers, 54
3.4 Estimation of the Recharge Rate, 55
3.5 Calculation of the Groundwater Flow Velocity, 58
3.6 Identification of the Groundwater Flow Paths, 59
3.7 Assessing the Rates of Groundwater and Contaminants Transport
Through Aquitards, 61

3.8 Constraining the Parameters of Groundwater Flow and Transport
Models (Estimation of Large-Scale Flow and Transport
Properties), 64
3.9 Identification of the Mixing Between Different End Members, 65
3.10 Study of the Pre-Holocene (Late Pleistocene) Climate, 67
3.11 Evaluation of the Groundwater Pollution, 68
3.12 Calculation of the Travel Time of the Groundwater Plume to the
Points of Interest, 71
3.13 Mapping Vulnerability of the Shallow Aquifers, 73
3.14 Performance Assessments for Radioactive Waste Disposal
Facilities, 75