Dissolved Gas and Tracer Concentrations for the High Plains Aquifer, Vertical Flowpath Study Network

This data release documents three Microsoft Excel tables that contain data for understanding environmental tracer concentrations in groundwater of the High Plains aquifer system. Results of dissolved-gas modeling using environmental tracer concentrations (tritium, tritiogenic helium-3, and radiogenic helium-4), for the sample network (VPFS, vertical flow path study) are described. Dissolved gas modeling results (ModOut) contains detailed information on the calibration of dissolved gas models to measured dissolved-gas concentrations (neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and nitrogen). Calibration was done using methods described by Aeschbach-Hertig and others (1999 &amp; 2000) with modifications to include nitrogen gas (Weiss, 1970). In most cases, a single set of noble-gas concentrations (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) was used to solve for recharge conditions (recharge temperature, excess or entrapped air, and fractionation) using the unfractionated excess air (UA) and closed equilibration (CE) models (Aeschbach-Hertig and others, 1999 &amp; 2000). In cases where noble gas data were not available, multiple analyses of nitrogen and argon (collected sequentially on the same sample date) were used to solve for recharge conditions. Environmental tracer results (TrcOut) contains detailed information on calculations of environmental tracer data. Dissolved gas models were paired with measured helium isotope ratios (3He/4He) and helium concentrations to calculate concentrations of tritiogenic helium-3 (the component of 3He derived from tritium decay; Solomon and Cook, 2000) and radiogenic helium-4 (the component of 4He derived from the decay of uranium and thorium in aquifer materials; Solomon, 2000). Tracer concentrations were computed for each combination of measure dissolved gas concentrations when sites had multiple measured gas results and analyses for helium isotopes. Average environmental tracer results (AvgTrcOut) contains average tracer concentrations for a given site used for determination of groundwater ages.
Aeschbach-Hertig, W., F. Peeters, U. Beyerle, and R. Kipfer (1999), Interpretation of dissolved atmospheric noble gases in natural waters, Water Resour. Res., 35(9), 2779–2792,https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/1999WR900130.
Aeschbach-Hertig, W., F. Peeters, U. Beyerle, and R. Kipfer (2000), Paleotemperature reconstruction from noble gases in ground water taking into account equilibration with entrapped air, Nature, v. 405, Iss. 6790, pg. 1040-1044, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/35016542
Solomon, D.K., and P.G. Cook. 2000. 3H and 3He. In Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology, ed. P.G. Cook and A.L. Herczeg, 197-424. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Solomon, D.K. 2000. 4He in groundwater. In Environmental Tracers in Subsurface Hydrology, ed. P.G. Cook and A.L. Herczeg, 425-439. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Weiss, R. F., 1970, The solubility of nitrogen, oxygen, and argon in water and seawater, Deep Sea Research, vol. 17, pp. 721-735, https://doi.org/10.1016/0011-7471(70)90037-9.

Tags: dissolved-gas, environmental-tracers, high-plains-aquifer, nebraska, noble-gas, recharge-temperatures, usgs-5d3721ece4b01d82ce8a6d57
Organization: Department of the Interior