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Apparent Relative Retardation of Tritium and Bromide in Dolomite
Author(s) -
Leap Darrell I.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1992.tb01531.x
Subject(s) - tritium , tritiated water , bromide , tracer , chemistry , radiochemistry , dolomite , retardation factor , isotope , mineralogy , chromatography , inorganic chemistry , nuclear physics , physics , column chromatography
In order to determine the suitability of bromide as a surrogate for tritium for ground‐water tracing in fractured and fissured dolomite, apparent relative retardation coefficients of bromide with respect to tritium were computed by the cumulative relative mass‐time method from breakthrough curves of both substances, when used simultaneously as tracers in a two‐well recirculating tracer test. Throughout the 33.78‐day test, relative retardation differences of only a few hundredths were detected for most of the testing time. Tritium was less retarded in flow through highly transmissive openings than in more diffuse flow. Bromide was generally retarded relative to tritium except at the pumping well where the concentrations of both were diluted an order of magnitude below those in the monitoring wells, and tritium was retarded slightly more than bromide. Apparent relative retardation was found to change with transmissivity, concentration, flow‐path length and time, but not enough to rule out bromide as a suitable surrogate for, or even better than, tritium in dolomite if the limitations of each tracer are known.