Hydrochemical, isotopic, and dissolved gas characterization of groundwater in Gariz aquifer, Southwest of Yazd Province, central Iran

Abstract

Here we discussed the results of the first geochemical investigation of the fluids (groundwater and the associated gases) emerging in the southwest of Yazd Province. We carried out two surveys, one in July 2019 and the second in September 2019s, in the region of the Gariz aquifer (central Iran). We focused our attention to 1) the chemistry of the water (major and minor constituents coupled to the stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen), 2) the chemical composition of dissolved gases in water together with 3) the isotopic composition of Helium (3He/4He) and 4) the dissolved carbon in water (δ13CTDIC). Hydrogen and oxygen isotope values of groundwater display a fairly narrow range and indicate that the waters are of meteoric origin. On the base of the major ions chemistry, the bulk of the water samples are classified as Ca-HCO3, CaCl and NaCl types. The groundwater chemistry is mainly influenced by the interaction with CO2-rich fluids, leakage of chlorinated saline water into the alluvial aquifer, and silicate dissolution. High dissolved carbon contents, mainly as bicarbonate ion, reflect the noticeable interaction of the groundwater with CO2-rich fluids. CO2 is the dominant gaseous component in most samples and its amount is always greater with respect to a water in equilibrium with the atmosphere (Air Saturated Water, ASW). Such excess of CO2 contents (more than 730 cc/l STP) dissolved in groundwater also supports the presence of a deep source of CO2-rich gas. The computed δ13C(CO2) in equilibrium with the groundwater highlight a mixing in different proportion between an inorganic deep sourced CO2 (13C-enriched) and organic CO2 (13C-depleted). We also used the helium isotopes as a tools to figure out the origin of helium in the aquifer (air vs. mantle, and crust). The collected samples show a contribution of mantle-derived He in the Gariz aquifer up to (~45%) and the crust suggesting that at regional scale the tectonic discontinuities had a connection with the mantle or magmatic intrusions migrated through the crust transporting mantle volatiles to shallow crustal layers. However, we cannot infer the timing of this possible magmatism at depth in the complex tectonic evolution of the area.