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Assessing Groundwater Age in Confined Aquifers from the Central Pampean Plain of Cordoba, Argentina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2016

Marina Luciana Maldonado ,
Mónica Teresa Blarasin ,
Adriana Edith Cabrera ,
Héctor Osvaldo Panarello  and
Cristina Dapeña
Marina Luciana Maldonado*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, FCEFQyN, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC), Ruta 36 Km 601, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas), Argentina
Mónica Teresa Blarasin
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, FCEFQyN, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC), Ruta 36 Km 601, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina
Adriana Edith Cabrera
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, FCEFQyN, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC), Ruta 36 Km 601, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina
Héctor Osvaldo Panarello
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica (INGEIS CONICET-UBA), Pabellón INGEIS, Ciudad Universitaria (1428), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cristina Dapeña
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica (INGEIS CONICET-UBA), Pabellón INGEIS, Ciudad Universitaria (1428), Buenos Aires, Argentina
*
*Corresponding author. Email: lmaldonado@exa.unrc.edu.ar.
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Abstract

In Córdoba Province, Argentina, the population uses groundwater from confined aquifer systems (CASs) for different activities. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive studies in order to plan more sustainable use considering that groundwater renewal times can be of several thousands of years. The objective of this research is to evaluate groundwater age in confined aquifers based on hydraulic and isotopic methods. The CASs present variable extension, are multilayered and formed by thin (4–6 m) sand-pebble lenses, and are linked to Neogene fluvial paleosystems. These layers are situated at different depths (120–400 m) and interbedded with thick clay strata. The interpretations made from 2H, 18O, and 3H results and hydraulic calculations suggest that the groundwater is old. Furthermore, an age gradient was observed that increases with depth and flow direction. The 14C ages obtained for the CASs labeled A2, C, and D were 3.6–1.1 ka BP, 10.8 ka BP, and 46.0–40.5 ka BP, respectively. These results indicate that A2 and C contain groundwater recharged during Holocene cold periods, between the Little Ice Age and the ending of the Holocene Climatic Optimum and during the last glaciation. The D CAS contains paleowater that was recharged during the Pleistocene.

Keywords

groundwater ageconfined aquiferisotopesArgentina
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 833 - 849
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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