Groundwater and climate dynamics derived from noble gas, 14C, and stable isotope data

Abstract

Noble gas data in conjunction with stable isotopes and 14 C ages of groundwater samples from southeastern Wisconsin, USA, indicate a soil cooling of at least 6.5-7 °C during the last glacial period compared with modern soil temperatures. Because stable isotope and excess Ne data indicate that none of the samples contains any signifi cant portions of glacial meltwater, samples with 14 C ages between 12 and 26 ka B.P., which is the time when the study area was ice covered, most likely infi ltrated during short periods of ice retreat or represent recharge containing a signifi cant proportion of precipitation rather than subglacial meltwater recharge. Further, all samples except for those recharged before the last glacial period show a strong correlation between noble gas temperature and δ 18 O. By contrast, δ 18 O values of samples older than ca. 28 ka B.P. are too heavy with respect to their noble gas temperatures. This might be due to a stronger infl uence of an isotopically enriched moisture source from the Gulf of Mexico . The amount of excess air, which is closely linked to the magnitude of groundwater table fl uctuations, increases shortly before and at the beginning of the last glacial period, suggesting that recharge dynamics changed considerably during that time period.

Global Isotope Hydrogeology―Review

“…Pertaining to this specific example, an approach better suited for isolating and estimating late‐Pleistocene temperatures is the comparison of late‐Holocene versus late‐Pleistocene groundwater noble gas concentrations (Mazor, ). The noble‐gas‐based paleotemperature reconstruction approach has been applied to estimate past temperatures in dozens of aquifer systems around the world (e.g., Andrews & Lee, ; Mazor & Verhagen, ; Heaton et al, ; Phillips et al, ; Andrews et al, ; Stute & Deák, ; Fontes et al, ; Stute, Clark, et al, ; Stute, Forster, et al, ; Clark et al, , ; Beyerle et al, ; Stute & Talma, ; Edmunds et al, ; Elliot et al, ; Weyhenmeyer et al, ; Condesso de Melo et al, ; Huneau et al, ; Beyerle et al, ; Guendouz et al, ; Lehmann et al, ; Kulongoski et al, ; McMahon et al, ; Plummer et al, ; Zuber et al, ; Kloppmann et al, ; Edmunds & Smedley, ; Edmunds et al, ; Kennedy & Genereux, ; Klump et al, ; Kreuzer et al, ; Osenbrück et al, ; Kulongoski et al, ; Blaser et al, ; Morrissey et al, ; von Rohden et al, ; Wieser et al, ; Varsányi et al, ; Corcho Alvarado et al, ; Szocs et al, ; Abouelmagd et al, ; Seltzer et al, ; Mihajlov et al, ; Saadi et al, ; Darling et al, ). More frequent intercomparisons of noble gas concentrations and fossil groundwater δ 18 O values may help to decouple influences of late‐Pleistocene to late‐Holocene warming from deglacial shifts to other hydroclimatic processes.…”

Impacts of Pleistocene glaciation on large-scale groundwater flow and salinity in the Michigan Basin

“…Klump et al. (2008) measured noble gases, stable isotopes, and 14 C of groundwaters along the southwestern margin of the Michigan Basin.…”

Geostatistical analysis of tritium, groundwater age and other noble gas derived parameters in California

“…Besides addressing the research questions presented above, the purpose of this paper is to present the data set to the scientific community to solicit further research. Future research opportunities include calibration of numerical groundwater models (Castro et al, 1998;Ivey et al, 2008;Murphy et al, 2010;Sanford, 2010;Sheets et al, 1998), paleoclimate reconstruction (Stute et al, 1992;Aeschbach-Hertig et al, 2000b;Hall et al, 2005;Castro et al, 2007;Klump et al, 2008;Stute et al, 1995b;Corcho Alvarado et al, 2009), water quality vulnerability in relation to groundwater age (Wright et al, 2004;Johnston et al, 1998;Tesoriero et al, 2007;Visser et al, 2007), and identification of regions where mantle fluids are transported into shallow aquifers (Boles et al, 2015;Kulongoski et al, 2013;Castro, 2004;Kulongoski et al, 2003;Jenden et al, 1988;Poreda et al, 1986). The geostatistical analysis presented here is a first step in disseminating and visualizing the data set.…”