Authors
Yishai Weinstein, Oren Friedheim, Larisa Odintsov, Yehudit Harlavan, Perach Nuriel, Boaz Lazar, Avihu Burg
Publication date
2021/7/1
Journal
Journal of Hydrology
Volume
598
Pages
126412
Publisher
Elsevier
Description
In this paper, we present a method for groundwater dating, using radium isotope ratios. We use this method to constrain ages of saline groundwater in two aquifers of different depth and age (shallow Pleistocene and deep Cretaceous) along the Israeli coast, with implications to seawater intrusion. In the Pleistocene aquifer, long to short-lived isotope ratios (e.g. 226Ra/223Ra and 226Ra/228Ra) in groundwater from both shallow and deep sub-units, up to >700 m from the sea, were far from equilibrium with radioactive parent ratios (238U/235U and 230Th/232Th, respectively). This suggests young ages, on the order of decades, which further implies high flow rates of ≥10 m yr−1, probably related to recent over-pumping and seawater intrusion. On the other hand, most Cretaceous aquifer groundwater showed close to or higher than equilibrium 226Ra/223Ra, which implies ages of >1000 years, with the exact …
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