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U-series constraints on aquifer groundwater residence time: the Adour-Garonne district case (southwest France)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

C. Innocent  and
P. Négrel
C. Innocent*
Affiliation:
BRGM — MMA/ISO, 3 avenue Claude Guillemin, BP 6009, 45060 Orléans cedex 2, France
P. Négrel
Affiliation:
BRGM — MMA/ISO, 3 avenue Claude Guillemin, BP 6009, 45060 Orléans cedex 2, France
*
*E-mail: c.innocent@brgm.fr
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Abstract

U-series were investigated in groundwaters from two water bodies of the Eocene sands aquifer, southwest France. The 234U/238U activity ratios are always larger than the equilibrium value, some waters being highly enriched in 234U (as large as 13.5). In the southern water body, 234U/238U ratios correlate with 14C ages (with one exception). Such U isotopic signatures may allow the evaluation of the residence time of groundwaters within their aquifer using an open-system model based on U activity ratios and concentrations. It is suggested that the ‘oldest’ groundwaters from the southern water body are no older than 38 ky, whereas the maximum ‘age’ of groundwaters from the northern water body, though overall of the same order of magnitude, could be slightly younger (25 ky).

Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 321 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2008

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