Abstract
AbstractThe concentrations of tritium, helium isotopes, and neon have been measured in ground water from a fractured bedrock aquifer in a densely populated suburban area near New York City. Samples were obtained from heavily pumped production wells of a regional water supply company. Helium and neon concentrations exceed the values for air‐saturated water, which is explained by the addition of unfractionated atmospheric air, radiogenic helium, and tritiogenic 3He. The identification of the composition of these excess components allows reliable separation of the tritiogenic 3He concentration, and hence the calculation of the 3H/3He ages of the ground water. Comparison of the combined tritium plus tritiogenic 3He concentrations with the historical record of tritium input from precipitation confirms that the 3H/3He data are self‐consistent and provides constraints on the degree of mixing or helium loss. The distribution of 3H/3He ages is related to the large‐scale topography of the study area and the depth of the wells. Furthermore, correlations between the 3H/3He ages and concentrations of total dissolved solids and total CO2 show that the ages contain meaningful information related to the temporal changes of the ground water chemistry.
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