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<p>Tritium is an ideal tracer among the hydrogen isotopes because it is part of the water molecule, and its content in groundwater is directly related to the time since infiltration. However, nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s introduced artificial tritium into the atmosphere, adding noise to the natural cosmogenic background and complicating the determination of groundwater age. As a result, water with different recharge ages may exhibit similar tritium values, making it difficult to unambiguously determine their apparent age. In this study, tritium data collected at different times from the Pampeano Aquifer in the southeastern coastal area of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) were used to develop a qualitative classification of young groundwater. Samples were categorized based on the date of sampling and tritium concentration, and then matched to decay-corrected tritium input curves from the literature. This approach allowed for the establish three groundwater age categories: “pre-modern, modern, and recent”. These correspond to recharge occurring before nuclear testing, during the bomb peak period, and after the tritium signal returned to near-natural levels, respectively. Although tritium-based age estimates may encompass a wide range of possible recharge years, it is concluded that in the study area, tritium can be reliably used for groundwater dating from 2009 onwards. This classification provides valuable information for groundwater management based solely on tritium data, without requiring additional tracers or more complex approaches such as lumped parameter modeling.</p>

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Tritium-based groundwater age classification in mid-latitude South America: Application to coastal catchments of Argentina

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月21日

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  • Emiliano Alcaraz,
  • Orlando Mauricio Quiroz-Londoño,
  • Alejandro Basaldúa,
  • Flavia Donna,
  • Melisa Glok-Galli,
  • Cristina Dapeña,
  • Eduardo Ibarra,
  • Lorenzo Copia,
  • Daniel Emilio Martínez

摘要

Tritium is an ideal tracer among the hydrogen isotopes because it is part of the water molecule, and its content in groundwater is directly related to the time since infiltration. However, nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s introduced artificial tritium into the atmosphere, adding noise to the natural cosmogenic background and complicating the determination of groundwater age. As a result, water with different recharge ages may exhibit similar tritium values, making it difficult to unambiguously determine their apparent age. In this study, tritium data collected at different times from the Pampeano Aquifer in the southeastern coastal area of Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) were used to develop a qualitative classification of young groundwater. Samples were categorized based on the date of sampling and tritium concentration, and then matched to decay-corrected tritium input curves from the literature. This approach allowed for the establish three groundwater age categories: “pre-modern, modern, and recent”. These correspond to recharge occurring before nuclear testing, during the bomb peak period, and after the tritium signal returned to near-natural levels, respectively. Although tritium-based age estimates may encompass a wide range of possible recharge years, it is concluded that in the study area, tritium can be reliably used for groundwater dating from 2009 onwards. This classification provides valuable information for groundwater management based solely on tritium data, without requiring additional tracers or more complex approaches such as lumped parameter modeling.