Radon tracing of groundwater input into Par Pond, Savannah River Site

Corbett, D. Reide; Burnett, William C.; Cable, Peter H.; Clark, Sue B.

doi:10.1016/s0022-1694(97)00103-0

Cited by 128 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…5) it seems reasonable to assume steady state (i.e., dC la /dt=0). Then the radon balance can be written (compare Corbett et al, 1997):…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A way to reduce the uncertainty of the effect of gas exchange would be to monitor the temporal evolution of the radon concentration in the epilimnion and the radon inventory in the entire lake over an extended period of time, as demonstrated by Corbett et al (1997). Seasonal changes in the vertical stratification of the lake should lead to a dynamic evolution of the radon concentrations that can be interpreted in terms of gas exchange, vertical mixing, and groundwater input.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cable et al, 1996;Corbett et al, 1999Corbett et al, , 2000Crusius et al, 2005). Similarly, some studies used radon to asses groundwater exfiltration into lakes (Corbett et al, 1997;Tuccimei et al, 2005;Trettin et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a conventional method for radon detection at low activity levels described by Mathieu et al (1988), used for instance by Corbett et al (1997Corbett et al ( , 1999Corbett et al ( , 2000, radon is extracted from large water samples by stripping with radon-free He, enriched on a charcoal trap cooled with dry ice, and subsequently detected in a scintillation cell. More recently, methods for continuous radon measurement have been proposed and used in studies of submarine groundwater discharge (Burnett et al, 2001;Lambert and Burnett, 2003;Dulaiova et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Tracing and quantifying groundwater inflow into lakes using a simple method for radon-222 analysis

Kluge

Ilmberger

Rohden

et al. 2007

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Due to its high activities in groundwater, the radionuclide 222 Rn is a sensitive natural tracer to detect and quantify groundwater inflow into lakes, provided the comparatively low activities in the lakes can be measured accurately. Here we present a simple method for radon measurements in the low-level range down to 3 Bq m −3 , appropriate for groundwater-influenced lakes, together with a concept to derive inflow rates from the radon budget in lakes. The analytical method is based on a commercially available radon detector and combines the advantages of established procedures with regard to efficient sampling and sensitive analysis. Large volume (12 l) water samples are taken in the field and analyzed in the laboratory by equilibration with a closed air loop and alpha spectrometry of radon in the gas phase. After successful laboratory tests, the method has been applied to a small dredging lake without surface in-or outflow in order to estimate the groundwater contribution to the hydrological budget. The inflow rate calculated from a 222 Rn balance for the lake is around 530 m 3 per day, which is comparable to the results of previous studies. In addition to the inflow rate, the vertical and horizontal radon distribution in the lake provides information on the spatial distribution of groundwater inflow to the lake. The simple measurement and sampling technique encourages further use of radon to examine groundwater-lake water interaction.

show abstract

“…5) it seems reasonable to assume steady state (i.e., dC la /dt=0). Then the radon balance can be written (compare Corbett et al, 1997):…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Tracing and quantifying groundwater inflow into lakes using a simple method for radon-222 analysis

Kluge

Ilmberger

Rohden

et al. 2007

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, radon's unique chemical properties and its natural presence in subsurface fluids make it an excellent tracer of hydrologic processes. Radon has been effectively used as a tracer of water infiltration and recharge rates (Hamada and Komoe 1998;Snow and Spaulding 1997;Bertin and Bourg 1994), monitoring water body mixing , tracing stream flow paths (Corbett et al 1997) and most recently for monitoring the remediation of subsurface nonaqueous phase liquid contamination . In most of these field applications, logistics or transportation issues, not adequate sample availability, limits sample size.…”

Section: The Effect Of Sample Cocktail and Head Space Volume When Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Radon-222 as Natural Tracer for Monitoring the Remediation of NAPL in the Subsurface

Davis¹,

Semprini²,

Istok³

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYNaturally occurring 222-radon in ground water can potentially be used as an in situ partitioning tracer to characterize dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) saturations. The static method involves comparing radon concentrations in water samples from DNAPL-contaminated and non-contaminated portions of an aquifer. During a push-pull test, a known volume of test solution (radon-free water containing a conservative tracer) is first injected ("pushed") into a well; flow is then reversed and the test solution/groundwater mixture is extracted ("pulled") from the same well. In the presence of NAPL radon transport is retarded relative to the conservative tracer. Assuming linear equilibrium partitioning, retardation factors for radon can be used to estimate NAPL saturations. The utility of this methodology was evaluated in laboratory and field settings. Laboratory push-pull tests were conducted in both non-contaminated and trichloroethene NAPL (TCE)-contaminated sediment packs before-and after alcohol cosolvent flushing and pump-and-treat remediation; field push-pull tests were conducted in wells located in non-contaminated and light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL)-contaminated portions of an aquifer at a former petroleum refinery. The laboratory and field push-pull tests demonstrated that radon retardation does occur in the presence of TCE and LNAPL and that radon retardation can be used to calculate TCE saturations. However, nonequilibrium radon partitioning and heterogeneous TCE distributions may affect the retardation factors and TCE saturation estimates. Numerical simulations were used to further investigate the influence of 1) initial radon concentration, which varies as a function of NAPL saturation and 2) heterogeneity in NAPL saturation distribution within the radius of influence of the push-pull test.A method is described for determining the partition coefficient for radon in the presence of NAPL. The method uses sequential extractions of radon into equal volume aliquots of organic solvent. The radon-laden organic liquid is then counted on a liquid scintillation analyzer with alpha-beta separation. The high quench resistance and counting efficiency of alpha particles by liquid scintillation methods are ideal for counting a variety of aromatic, aliphatic, and cyclic organic solvent and scintillation cocktail mixtures. Accurate knowledge of the instrument counting efficiency, quench, and standard solution activity are not required. Replicate measurements of the aqueous-organic radon partition coefficient on benzene, toluene, o-xylene, n-hexane, cyclohexane, trichloroethene, and perchloroethene showed excellent agreement with theoretical radon partition coefficients derived from Ostwald solubility coefficients. The method was also used to determine the aqueous-organic radon partition coefficient for several commercial liquid scintillation solutions. 4 LITERATURE REVIEW CHLORINATED ALIPHATICS AND DNAPLsChlorinated solvents have seen prolific use in the industrialized world throughout the twentieth...

show abstract