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DETECTION OF GROUNDWATER AGES WITH 85 KR IN ARSENIC-BEARING, FRACTURED CRYSTALLINE BEDROCK OF THE GOOSE RIVER BASIN, MAINE
Citation:
Sidle*, W C. AND R. A. Fischer. DETECTION OF GROUNDWATER AGES WITH 85 KR IN ARSENIC-BEARING, FRACTURED CRYSTALLINE BEDROCK OF THE GOOSE RIVER BASIN, MAINE. Presented at US EPA Watershed Symposium, Benson, AZ, 10/28-30/2003.
Description:
Young groundwater from various depths in crystalline bedrock of the Goose River basin, mid-coastal Maine, is documented from 85Kr isotope age analyses (1963 ? 1987) but not from 3H isotope age analyses. Elevated geogenic arsenic in drinking water from groundwater wells and springs is shown to occur largely where recharge is at least 45 years old. Both shallow and deep wells tap this old arsenic-tainted groundwater and apparently may be focused along some major fracture zones continuous to depth in the amphibolite-grade terrane, and where very 18O depleted (# -9.5 o/oo VSMOW) water mirrors the discharge patterns in the Goose River groundwatershed.