Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T12:41:25.099Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Radiocarbon Dating of Groundwater in Granite Fractures in Abukuma Province, Northeast Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

H A Takahashi*
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
T Nakamura
Affiliation:
Center for Chronological Research, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8602, Japan
H Tsukamoto
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
K Kazahaya
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
H Handa
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
A Hirota
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, 1-1-1, Higashi, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
*
2Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].

Abstract

Knowledge of the groundwater age is indispensable for understanding groundwater flow in crystalline rocks. The present study is the first to discuss the radiocarbon ages of groundwater in Abukuma granite, Fukushima Prefecture, northeast Japan. The vertical profiles of 14C dates and δ13C are obtained from 3 boreholes (depths of 140, 230, and 306 m). Chemical and carbon isotopic compositions suggest that dead-carbon contamination of groundwater occurred during groundwater storage in the fractures. 14C concentration was corrected by using isotopic mass balance in which dead-carbon contamination of the groundwater was considered. The 14C dates ranged from modern to ≃16 ka. The relationship between tritium and 14C data in 1 borehole suggests the simultaneous inflow of shallow groundwater to deeper levels occur for the depths between 60 and 100 m. The vertical profiles of 14C dates indicate a relatively constant age of 10–16 ka for groundwater deeper than 100 m, which may have been influenced by rapid sea-level changes after the glacial period.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ayraud, V, Aquilina, L, Labasque, T, Pauwels, H, Molenat, J, Pierson-Wickmann, AC, Durand, V, Bour, O, Tarits, C, Le Corre, P, Fourre, E, Merot, P, Davy, P. 2008. Compartmentalization of physical and chemical properties in hard-rock aquifers deduced from chemical and groundwater age analyses. Applied Geochemistry 23(9):2686–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkowitz, B. 2002. Characterizing flow and transport in fractured geological media: a review. Advances in Water Resources 25(8–12):861–84.Google Scholar
Bird, MI, Pousai, P. 1997. Variations of δ13C in the surface soil organic carbon pool. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 11(3):313–22.Google Scholar
Bottomley, DJ, Gascoyne, M, Kamineni, DC. 1990. The geochemistry, age, and origin of groundwater in a Mafic Pluton, East Bull Lake, Ontario, Canada. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 54(4):933–1008.Google Scholar
Davidson, GR. 1995. The stable isotopic composition and measurement of carbon in soil CO2 . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59(12):2485–9.Google Scholar
de Dreuzy, JR, Darcel, C, Davy, P, Bour, O. 2004. Influence of spatial correlation of fracture centers on the permeability of two-dimensional fracture networks following a power law length distribution. Water Resources Research 40(1):W01502, doi:10.1029/2003WR00226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dewandel, B, Lachassagne, P, Wyns, R, Marechal, JC, Krishnamurthy, NS. 2006. A generalized 3–D geological and hydrogeological conceptual model of granite aquifers controlled by single or multiphase weathering. Journal of Hydrology 330(1–2):260–84.Google Scholar
Gustafson, G, Krásný, J. 1994. Crystalline rock aquifers: their occurrence, use and importance. Applied Hydrogeology 2(2):6475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafson, G, Gylling, B, Selroos, JO. 2009. The Aspö Task Force on groundwater flow and transport of solutes: bridging the gap between site characterization and performance assessment for radioactive waste disposal in fractured rocks. Hydrogeology Journal 17(5):1031–3.Google Scholar
Hoefs, J. 2009. Stable Isotope Geochemistry. 6th edition. Berlin: Springer. 288 p.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J, Merlivat, L, Lorius, C. 1982. Deuterium excess in an East Antarctic ice core suggests higher relative-humidity at the oceanic surface during the Last Glacial Maximum. Nature 299(5885):688–91.Google Scholar
Kamei, A, Takagi, T. 2003. Geology and petrography of the Abukuma granites in the Funehiki area, Fukushima Prefecture, NE Japan. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan 109(4):234–51. In Japanese with English abstract.Google Scholar
Keeling, CD. 1958. The concentration and isotopic abundances of atmospheric carbon dioxide in rural areas. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 13(4):322–34.Google Scholar
Nakamura, T, Niu, E, Oda, H, Ikeda, A, Minami, M, Takahashi, H, Adachi, M, Pals, L, Gottdang, A, Suya, N. 2000. The HVEE Tandetron AMS system at Nagoya University. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 172(1–4):52–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neuman, SP. 2005. Trends, prospects and challenges in quantifying flow and transport through fractured rocks. Hydrogeology Journal 13(1):124–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Leary, MH. 1988. Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis. BioScience 38(5):328–36.Google Scholar
Ohwada, M, Satake, H, Nagao, K, Kazahaya, K. 2007. Formation processes of thermal waters in Green Tuff: a geochemical study in the Hokuriku district, central Japan. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 168(1–4):5567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkhurst, DJ, Appelo, CAJ. 1999. User's guide to PHREEQC (Version 2)—A computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one- dimensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations. US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99–4259:310.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Polach, HA. 1977. Discussion: reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3):355–63.Google Scholar
Tong, P, Zhao, D, Yang, D. 2012. Tomography of the 2011 Iwaki earthquake (M 7.0) and Fukushima nuclear power plant area. Solid Earth 3(1):4351.Google Scholar
Umeda, K, Asamori, K, Negi, T, Kusano, T. 2011. A large intraplate earthquake triggered by latent magmatism. Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth 116:B01207, doi: 10.1029/2010JB007963.Google Scholar
Zhang, J, Quay, PD, Wilbur, DO. 1995. Carbon-isotope fractionation during gas-water exchange and dissolution of CO2 . Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59(1):107–14.Google Scholar