Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:43:17.567Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Isotopic Evidence for Glacial Meltwater Recharge to the Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer, North-Central United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

D. I. Siegel  and
R. J. Mandle
D. I. Siegel
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Heroy Laboratory, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13210
R. J. Mandle
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, 1815 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The chemistry of water in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer in six midwestern states has been studied as part of the Northern Midwest Regional Aquifer-System Analysis of the U.S. Geological Survey. Dissolved-solids concentrations generally increase perpendicular to the direction of regional groundwater flow, from less than 400 mg/liter in southeast Minnesota, southwest Wisconsin, and northeast Iowa to more than 10,000 mg/liter in northwest Missouri. Isotopic ratios of hydrogen and oxygen are significantly depleted from north to south, with an areal distribution approximately parallel to the distribution of dissolved solids. For example, δ18O in southern Iowa and northern Missouri is about 6 parts per thousand lighter than δ18O of modern recharge water in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Covariance between δ18O and δD of the groundwater, similar to that of modern precipitation, suggests that the differences in isotopic ratios between groundwater and modern recharge water reflect meteoric signatures of water during past recharge events rather than geochemical processes such as isotopic exchange with aquifer materials. The pronounced parallelism between the distribution of isotopes and dissolved solids over large areas probably reflects largescale recharge of Pleistocene glacial meltwater into the aquifer system, which probably had a paleoflow system with a gradient from northeast to southwest rather than from northwest to southeast.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , November 1984 , pp. 328 - 335
Copyright
University of Washington

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

Alexander, E.C. Jr. Siegel, D.I. Milski, J.I. (1983). Isotopic studies of the Mt. Simon Aquifer, Southern Minnesota (abs.) “Proceedings, American Geophysical Union Spring Meeting, Baltimore,” Eds 64 225 Google Scholar
Back, W. Hanshaw, B. (1965). Chemical geohydrology Advances in Hydroscience 2 49 109 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chebotarev, I.I. (1955). Metamorphism of natural waters in the crust of weathering Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 8 22 48 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, L. Moran, S.R. (1974). A glacial process-form model Coates, D.R. Glacial Geomorphology. Binghamton State University New York Publications in Geomorphology. 89 119 Google Scholar
Clayton, R.N. Friedman, I. Graf, D.L. Mayeda, T.K. Meents, W.F. Sharp, N.F. (1966). The origin of saline formation waters. I. Isotopic composition Journal of Geophysical Research 71 3869 3882 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. (1961). Isotopic variations in meteoric waters Science (Washington, D.C.) 133 1702 1703 Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation Tellus 16 435 468 Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. Tauber, H. (1969). Glacier oxygen-18 content and Pleistocene ocean temperatures Science (Washington, D.C.) 166 499 502 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Emiliani, E. (1971). The amplitude of Pleistocene climactic cycles at low latitudes and the isotopic composition of glacial ice Turekian, K.K. Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages Yale Univ. Press New Haven, Conn., 183 187 Google Scholar
Filley, T.H. Parizek, R.R. (1983). Dynamics of groundwater flow associated with a continental glacier (abs.) Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 5 572 Google Scholar
Flint, R.F. (1971). Glacial and Quaternary Geology Wiley New York Google Scholar
Fontes, J.Ch. (1980). Environmental isotopes in groundwater hydrology Fritz, P. Fontes, J.Ch. Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry Vol. 1 Elsevier Scientific New York 75 140 Google Scholar
Gilkeson, R.H. Perry, E.C. Jr. Cartwright, K. (1981). Isotopic and Geologic Studies to Identify the Sources of Sulfate in Groundwater Containing High Barium Concentrations Water Resources Center, University of Illinois Research Report 165Google Scholar
Grundle, T.J. (1980). Unpublished M.S. thesis Northern Illinois University DeKalb Google Scholar
Hanshaw, B.B. Pearson, F.J. Winograd, I.J. (1978). Deuterium and oxygen-18 content of holocene through late Wisconsin precipitation (abs.) Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 10 415 516 Google Scholar
Hooke, R.LeB (1977). Basal temperatures in polar ice sheets: A qualitative review Quaternary Research 7 1 13 Google Scholar
Moran, S.R. Clayton, L. Hooke, R.LeB. Fenton, M.M. Andriashek, L.D. (1980). Glacier-bed landforms of the prairie region of North America Journal of Glaciology 25 457 476 Google Scholar
Perry, E.C. Jr. Gilkeson, R.H. Grundle, T.J. (1982). H, O and S isotopic study of the groundwater in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer system of northern Illinois Perry, E.C. Jr. Montgomery, C.W. Isotope Studies of Hydrologic Processes Northern Illinois Univ. Press DeKalb 35 45 Google Scholar
Siegel, D.I. Kontis, A.L. Mandle, R.J. (1981). Chemical evolution of water quality in the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer, north-central United States (abs.) Proceedings Midwest Meeting American Geophysical Union Minneapolis, Minnesota 8 Google Scholar
Siegel, D.I. Mandle, R.J. (1983). Geochemical evidence for glaciation of the driftless area, southwestern Wisconsin (abs.) Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 5 687 Google Scholar
Steinhilber, W.L. Young, H.L. (1979). Plan of Study for the Northern Midwest Regional Aquifer Analysis 19 U.S. Geological Survey Water Resources Inv. 79-44Google Scholar
Weertman, J. (1961). Mechanism for the formation of inner moraines found near the edge of cold ice caps and ice sheets Journal of Glaciology 3 965 978 Google Scholar
Yapp, C.J. Epstein, S. (1977). Climate implications of DH ratios of meteoric water over North America (9500–22,000 yr B.P.) as inferred from ancient wood cellulose CH hydrogen Earth and Planetary Science Letters 34 333 350 Google Scholar
Yurtsever, Y. (1975). Worldwide Survey of Stable Isotopes in Precipitation Report of the Section on Isotope Hydrology IAEA Vienna 40 Google Scholar