Dating Desert Ground Water

Thatcher, L. L.; Rubin, Meyer; Brown, Glen F.

doi:10.1126/science.134.3472.105

Cited by 22 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Thatcher, Rubin and Brown (1961) have also reported on carbon-14 analyses of deep well waters in Arabia which showed ages of 20,400 to 33,000 years, ages which are in good agreement with the carbon-14 dating of ground-water from Egypt. Such are examples of ground-waters occurring throughout vast areas which are very ancient in age of recharge, but are worthy of extensive and even intensive development and use.…”

Section: Tritium Datingsupporting

confidence: 60%

Use of Tritium in Hydrologic Research-Problems and Limitations

Carlston¹

1964

International Association of Scientific Hydrology. Bulletin

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The use of tritium content to determine the age of ground water is commonly an uncertain undertaking because most ground water pumped from water-table wells, particularly uncased wells, is a mixture of water of different ages and differing tritium content. Age designation of such mixed waters is meaningless.A recent publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency states that the absence of tritium in ground water indicates an age greater than 50 years, which therefore excludes the possibility of full-scale utilization of the water. Presumably the authors deduce that no recharge is occurring in such an area. The publication further states that the presence of bomb-produced tritium in a ground-water body indicates recent recharge and the consequent feasibility of utilization. These misleading statements fail to take into account that all aquifers in humid to semi-arid environments contain post-born b recharge just below the water table and that movement of water even in highly permeable aquifers is so slow that generally ground water that occurs more than about 30 meters below the water table and down gradient from the intake area is older than 50 years.Even in arid regions where present-day recharge and tritium content of ground water are negligible, large quantities of ground water are frequently available from storage.The use of the tritium content of water is not now, nor will it ever be, a substitute for detailed geologic and hydrologic investigations of aquifers by adequately trained hydrologists. At most it can be only a supplementary tool, useful principally to veritfy, quantify, or supplement conclusions reached by less spectacular but more meaningful geohydrologic studies.

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Section: Tritium Datingsupporting

confidence: 60%

Use of Tritium in Hydrologic Research-Problems and Limitations

Carlston¹

1964

International Association of Scientific Hydrology. Bulletin

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“…The abundance of older groundwater has been evaluated most frequently using dissolved inorganic carbon isotope compositions (e.g., Thatcher et al, ). Most studies that measure groundwater radiocarbon activities calculate and report average or mean groundwater ages.…”

Section: Fossil Groundwatermentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Isotope Hydrogeology―Review

Jasechko

2019

Reviews of Geophysics

228

124

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Groundwater 18O/16O, 2H/1H, 13C/12C, 3H, and 14C data can help quantify molecular movements and chemical reactions governing groundwater recharge, quality, storage, flow, and discharge. Here, commonly applied approaches to isotopic data analysis are reviewed, involving groundwater recharge seasonality, recharge elevations, groundwater ages, paleoclimate conditions, and groundwater discharge. Reviewed works confirm and quantify long held tenets: (i) that recharge derives disproportionately from wet season and winter precipitation; (ii) that modern groundwaters comprise little global groundwater; (iii) that “fossil” (>12,000‐year‐old) groundwaters dominate global aquifer storage; (iv) that fossil groundwaters capture late‐Pleistocene climate conditions; (v) that surface‐borne contaminants are more common in younger groundwaters; and (vi) that groundwater discharges generate substantial streamflow. Groundwater isotope data are disproportionately common to midlatitudes and sedimentary basins equipped for irrigated agriculture, but less plentiful across high latitudes, hyperarid deserts, and equatorial rainforests. Some of these underexplored aquifer systems may be suitable targets for future field testing.

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“…Radiocarbon dating was attempted at JB1. Oswald et al, 2005), underestimation due to inherited geological carbon (affecting submerged and emergent plants; see Marty and Myrbo, 2014) due to nearby carbonates and Saq aquifer waters (20,400 ± 500 14 C years, Thatcher et al, 1961), and contamination by modern carbon. We consider that this sample provides a reliable depositional age.…”

Section: Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle-late Quaternary palaeoclimate variability from lake and wetland deposits in the Nefud Desert, Northern Arabia

Parton

Clark-Balzan

Parker

et al. 2018

Quaternary Science Reviews

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Records of former lake and wetland development in present day arid/hyper-arid environments provide an important source of information for palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental studies. In Arabia, such records are typically confined to eccentricity-modulated insolation maxima, and are often spatially and temporally discontinuous. Here we present records from a single locality in Northern Arabia of wetter interludes during both global interglacial and glacial conditions, providing a unique opportunity to examine the nature of these events in a common setting. At Jubbah, in the southern Nefud Desert, lake and wetland deposits reveal the repeated formation of a water body within a large endorheic basin over the past ca. 360 kyr. Lake/wetland formation occurred during MIS 11/9, 7, 5, 3 and the early Holocene, assisted by local topographic controls, and spring recharge. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoecological data reveal the existence of a large still water body formed during either MIS 11 or 9 (ca. 363 ka), and basin wide alluviation followed by lake formation during MIS 7 (ca. 212 ka). During MIS 5e (ca. 130 ka) a large freshwater lake occupied the basin, while during MIS 5a (ca. 80 ka) the basin contained a shallow wetland and freshwater lake complex. Lake/wetland formation also occurred during early MIS 3 (ca. 60 ka), at the Terminal Pleistocene-Holocene transition (ca. 12.5 ka), and the early-middle Holocene (ca. 9-6.5 ka). Phases of lake and wetland development coincided with human occupation of the basin during the Middle Palaeolithic, Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic periods, highlighting the significance of the region for early demographic change.

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Dating Desert Ground Water

Cited by 22 publications

References 1 publication

Use of Tritium in Hydrologic Research-Problems and Limitations

Use of Tritium in Hydrologic Research-Problems and Limitations

Global Isotope Hydrogeology―Review

Middle-late Quaternary palaeoclimate variability from lake and wetland deposits in the Nefud Desert, Northern Arabia

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