Groundwater dating with Atom Trap Trace Analysis of<sup>39</sup>Ar

Ritterbusch, Florian; Ebser, Sven; Welte, Joachim; Reichel, Thomas; Kersting, Arne; Purtschert, Roland; Aeschbach–Hertig, Werner; Oberthaler, Markus K.

doi:10.1002/2014gl061120

Cited by 45 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The most recent development in this field is the introduction of an analytical method from atomic physics (Atom Trap Trace Analysis), which greatly facilitates the use of the noble gas radioisotopes 39 Ar, 81 Kr, and 85 Kr (Lu et al, 2014). This new method of groundwater dating is now increasingly being applied, making successful use of the advantageous properties of the noble gas radioisotopes (e.g., Aggarwal et al, 2015;Gerber et al, 2017;Matsumoto et al, 2018;Ritterbusch et al, 2014;Yechieli et al, 2019).…”

Section: Dating Tracersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

Sprenger

Stumpp

Weiler

et al. 2019

Reviews of Geophysics

233

214

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The time that water takes to travel through the terrestrial hydrological cycle and the critical zone is of great interest in Earth system sciences with broad implications for water quality and quantity. Most water age studies to date have focused on individual compartments (or subdisciplines) of the hydrological cycle such as the unsaturated or saturated zone, vegetation, atmosphere, or rivers. However, recent studies have shown that processes at the interfaces between the hydrological compartments (e.g., soil‐atmosphere or soil‐groundwater) govern the age distribution of the water fluxes between these compartments and thus can greatly affect water travel times. The broad variation from complete to nearly absent mixing of water at these interfaces affects the water ages in the compartments. This is especially the case for the highly heterogeneous critical zone between the top of the vegetation and the bottom of the groundwater storage. Here, we review a wide variety of studies about water ages in the critical zone and provide (1) an overview of new prospects and challenges in the use of hydrological tracers to study water ages, (2) a discussion of the limiting assumptions linked to our lack of process understanding and methodological transfer of water age estimations to individual disciplines or compartments, and (3) a vision for how to improve future interdisciplinary efforts to better understand the feedbacks between the atmosphere, vegetation, soil, groundwater, and surface water that control water ages in the critical zone.

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Section: Dating Tracersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

Sprenger

Stumpp

Weiler

et al. 2019

Reviews of Geophysics

233

214

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The number of 39 Ar dating studies and measurements so far were limited due to the large sample size and analytical requirement of the well established Low-Level Counting (LLC) method (Loosli and Purtschert, 2005). However, ongoing technological development efforts, in particular the Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA; e.g., Lu et al, 2014), now allow for a relatively fast 39 Ar age analysis of small sample volumes (Ritterbusch et al, 2014), and are expected to increase the number of analyses in the future. Understanding the relationship between the atmosphere-and subsurface-generated 39 Ar is thus essential in deep groundwater radiometric dating, in studies of fluid circulation in the Earth's crust, circulation pathways and residence times of ocean water masses, and in dating of deep ice cores.…”

Section: Implications For Groundwater Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subterranean production of neutrons, 39Ar and 21Ne: Rates and uncertainties

Šrámek

Stevens

McDonough

et al. 2017

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

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Accurate understanding of the subsurface production rate of the radionuclide 39 Ar is necessary for argon dating techniques and noble gas geochemistry of the shallow and the deep Earth, and is also of interest to the WIMP dark matter experimental particle physics community. Our new calculations of subsurface production of neutrons, 21 Ne, and 39 Ar take advantage of the state-of-the-art reliable tools of nuclear physics to obtain reaction cross sections and spectra (TALYS) and to evaluate neutron propagation in rock (MCNP6). We discuss our method and results in relation to previous studies and show the relative importance of various neutron, 21 Ne, and 39 Ar nucleogenic production channels. Uncertainty in nuclear reaction cross sections, which is the major contributor to overall calculation uncertainty, is estimated from variability in existing experimental and library data. Depending on selected rock composition, on the order of 10 7 -10 10 α particles are produced in one kilogram of rock per year (order of 1-10 3 kg −1 s −1 ); the number of produced neutrons is lower by ∼ 6 orders of magnitude, 21 Ne production rate drops by an additional factor of 15-20, and another one order of magnitude or more is dropped in production of 39 Ar. Our calculation yields a nucleogenic 21 Ne/ 4 He production ratio of (4.6 ± 0.6) × 10 −8 in Continental Crust and (4.2 ± 0.5) × 10 −8 in Oceanic Crust and Depleted Mantle. Calculated 39 Ar production rates span a great range from 29 ± 9 atoms kg-rock −1 yr −1 in the K-Th-U-enriched Upper Continental Crust to (2.6±0.8)×10 −4 atoms kg-rock −1 yr −1 in Depleted Upper Mantle. Nucleogenic 39 Ar production exceeds the cosmogenic production below ∼ 700 meters depth and thus, affects radiometric ages of groundwater. The 39 Ar chronometer, which fills in a gap between 3 H and 14 C, is particularly important given the need to tap deep reservoirs of ancient drinking water.

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“…The adaptation of this method to 39 Ar, which we refer to as Argon Trap Trace Analysis (ArTTA), and its application to environmental studies has been demonstrated with large groundwater [15] and recently with small ocean samples [16]. ArTTA is thus the door-opener for broad application of radio-argon dating in research fields as glaciology, that have so far been excluded, due to sample size requirements [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating glacier ice of the last millennium by quantum technology

Feng

Bohleber

Ebser

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Radiometric dating with 39 Ar covers a unique timespan and offers key advances in interpreting environmental archives of the last millennium. Although this tracer has been acknowledged for decades, studies so far have been limited by the low abundance and radioactivity, thus requiring huge sample sizes. Atom Trap Trace Analysis, an application of techniques from quantum physics such as laser cooling and trapping, allows to reduce the sample volume by several orders of magnitude, compared to conventional techniques. Here we show that the adaptation of this method to 39 Ar is now available for glaciological applications, by demonstrating the first Argon Trap Trace Analysis (ArTTA) dating of alpine glacier ice samples. Ice blocks as small as a few kilograms are sufficient and have been obtained at two artificial glacier caves. Importantly, both sites offer direct access to the stratigraphy at the glacier base and validation against existing age constraints. The ice blocks obtained at Chli Titlis glacier in 3030 m asl (Swiss Alps) have been dated by state-of-the-art microradiocarbon analysis in a previous study. The unique finding of a bark fragment and a larch needle within the ice of Schaufelferner glacier in 2870 m asl (Stubai Alps, Austria) allows for conventional radiocarbon dating. At both sites, results of 39 Ar dating match the existing age information based on radiocarbon dating and visual stratigraphy. With our results, we establish Argon Trap Trace Analysis as the key to decipher so far untapped glacier archives of the last millennium.

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Groundwater dating with Atom Trap Trace Analysis of³⁹Ar

Cited by 45 publications

References 32 publications

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

Subterranean production of neutrons, 39Ar and 21Ne: Rates and uncertainties

Dating glacier ice of the last millennium by quantum technology

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Groundwater dating with Atom Trap Trace Analysis of39Ar

Cited by 45 publications

References 32 publications

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

The Demographics of Water: A Review of Water Ages in the Critical Zone

Subterranean production of neutrons, 39Ar and 21Ne: Rates and uncertainties

Dating glacier ice of the last millennium by quantum technology

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Groundwater dating with Atom Trap Trace Analysis of³⁹Ar