TY - JOUR
T1 - Flow of river water into a Karstic limestone aquifer. 1. Tracing the young fraction in groundwater mixtures in the Upper Floridan Aquifer near Valdosta, Georgia
AU - Plummer, L. N.
AU - Busenberg, E.
AU - McConnell, J. B.
AU - Drenkard, S.
AU - Schlosser, P.
AU - Michel, R. L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Appreciation is extended to the many landowners who permitted the use of their wells for the collection of water samples. We gratefully acknowledge the support and assistance of Art Daniel, Valdosta City Engineer, and the City of Valdosta, Ga, during the course of the investigation. We also appreciate the assistance and cooperation of (the late) Raymond Sutton, Water Plant Superintendent, in sampling many of the City of Valdosta municipal wells. The authors thank Frank Creasy and William Garner, well contractors in the area, for their assistance in locating wells and providing well-construction data. Assistance in field sampling by Gary R. Buell, Alan M. Cressler, Barbara D. Milby, Howard H. Persinger, Jr. (USGS, Atlanta, Ga), Mark S. Reynolds, (USGS, Albany, Ga), Stephanie D. Shapiro (USGS, Reston, Va), and Brenda Ekwurzel (Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY) is gratefully acknowledged. Richard E. Krause (USGS, Atlanta, Ga) provided considerable advice and consultation during the course of this investigation. We thank Tyler B. Coplen (USGS, Reston, Va) for providing the stable isotope data. R. L. Van Hoven, R. A. Williams, P. K. Widman, J. E. Wayland and G. C. Casile (USGS, Reston, Va) performed the chemical and CFC analyses of the water samples. Eric C. Prestemon (USGS, Reston, Va) and David L. Parkhurst (USGS, Denver, CO) assisted with some of the calculations in this report. We thank Andrew G. Stack, Paul Taney (USGS, Reston, Va) and Willis G. Hester and Eric A. Steinnagel (USGS, Atlanta, Ga) for assistance in constructing and drafting the illustrations in this report. Brenda Ekwurzel (Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory), Richard E. Krause (USGS, Atlanta, Ga), Earl E. Greene (USGS, Reston, Va), A. White (USGS, Menlo Park, Ca), R. Wanty (USGS, Denver, CO), Y. Kharaka (USGS, Menlo Park, CA), and D. K. Solomon (Univ. Utah) critically read earlier versions of the manuscript and significantly improved the final report. We acknowledge the support of S. Drenkard by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Science Foundation, Dr 277-1). The Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory Tritium/Helium Laboratory was established through a donation from the W. M. Keck Foundation. This work was supported by Columbia University through the Strategic Research Initiative. Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University contribution No. 5801.Editorial handling:—Y. Kharaka
PY - 1998/11
Y1 - 1998/11
N2 - The quality of water ill the Upper Floridan aquifer near Valdosta, Georgia is affected locally by discharge of Withlacoochee River water through sinkholes in the river bed. Data on transient tracers and other dissolved substances, including Cl-, 3H, tritiogenic helium-3 (3He), chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113), organic C (DOC), O2 (DO), H2S, CH4, δ18O, δD, and 14C were investigated as tracers of Withlacoochee River water in the Upper Floridan aquifer. The concentrations of all tracers were affected by dilution and mixing. Dissolved Cl-, δ18O, δD, CFC-12, and the quantity (3H + 3He) are stable in water from the Upper Floridan aquifer, whereas DOC, DO, H2S, CH4, 14C, CFC- 11, and CFC-113 are affected by microbial degradation and other geochemical processes occurring within the aquifer. Groundwater mixing fractions were determined by using dissolved Cl- and δ18O data, recognizing 3 end-member water types in the groundwater mixtures: (1) Withlacoochee River water (δ18O = -2.5 ± 0.3‰, Cl-= 12.2 ± 2 mg/l), (2) regional infiltration water (δ18O = -4.2 ± 0.1‰o Cl-=2.3±0.1 mg/l), and (3) regional paleowater resident in the Upper Floridan aquifer (δ18O = - 3.4 ± 0.1‰, Cl- = 2.6 ± 0.1 mg/l) (uncertainties are + lσ). Error simulation procedures were used to define uncertainties in mixing fractions. Fractions of river water in groundwater range from 0 to 72% and average 10%. The influence of river-water discharge on the quality of water in the Upper Floridan aquifer was traced from the sinkhole area on the Withlacoochee River 25 km SE in the direction of regional groundwater flow. Infiltration of water is most significant to the N and NW of Valdosta, but becomes negligible to the S and SE in the direction of general thickening of post-Eocene confining beds overlying the Upper Floridan aquifer.
AB - The quality of water ill the Upper Floridan aquifer near Valdosta, Georgia is affected locally by discharge of Withlacoochee River water through sinkholes in the river bed. Data on transient tracers and other dissolved substances, including Cl-, 3H, tritiogenic helium-3 (3He), chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-113), organic C (DOC), O2 (DO), H2S, CH4, δ18O, δD, and 14C were investigated as tracers of Withlacoochee River water in the Upper Floridan aquifer. The concentrations of all tracers were affected by dilution and mixing. Dissolved Cl-, δ18O, δD, CFC-12, and the quantity (3H + 3He) are stable in water from the Upper Floridan aquifer, whereas DOC, DO, H2S, CH4, 14C, CFC- 11, and CFC-113 are affected by microbial degradation and other geochemical processes occurring within the aquifer. Groundwater mixing fractions were determined by using dissolved Cl- and δ18O data, recognizing 3 end-member water types in the groundwater mixtures: (1) Withlacoochee River water (δ18O = -2.5 ± 0.3‰, Cl-= 12.2 ± 2 mg/l), (2) regional infiltration water (δ18O = -4.2 ± 0.1‰o Cl-=2.3±0.1 mg/l), and (3) regional paleowater resident in the Upper Floridan aquifer (δ18O = - 3.4 ± 0.1‰, Cl- = 2.6 ± 0.1 mg/l) (uncertainties are + lσ). Error simulation procedures were used to define uncertainties in mixing fractions. Fractions of river water in groundwater range from 0 to 72% and average 10%. The influence of river-water discharge on the quality of water in the Upper Floridan aquifer was traced from the sinkhole area on the Withlacoochee River 25 km SE in the direction of regional groundwater flow. Infiltration of water is most significant to the N and NW of Valdosta, but becomes negligible to the S and SE in the direction of general thickening of post-Eocene confining beds overlying the Upper Floridan aquifer.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032213585&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032213585&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0883-2927(98)00031-6
DO - 10.1016/S0883-2927(98)00031-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0032213585
VL - 13
SP - 995
EP - 1015
JO - Applied Geochemistry
JF - Applied Geochemistry
SN - 0883-2927
IS - 8
ER -