Abstract
Presence of young groundwater (post-1950) in the Goose River basin is demonstrated with 3H and 85Kr analyses. A total of 96 wells and four springs were sampled quarterly from 1999 to 2001 to determine the extent of any recent recharge and to what depth hydraulic continuity existed in the groundwatershed (33.3 km2). Recharge groundwater is less than 50 years in about 31% (3H) to 37% (85Kr) of sampled wells and 75% of sampled springs. Young groundwater ages are recorded in wells up to 320 m in depth within fractured- and arsenic-bearing crystalline bedrock. Total arsenic ≥10 μg L−1 occurs significantly in drinking water with young groundwater flowing through the pumping well intervals. Astotal occurs in 89% (85Kr) to 93% (3H) of all wells with post-1950 groundwater ages. Young groundwater recharge and elevated geogenic arsenic were discovered only in the anatectic granitoids and migmatized country rock of the southwestern part of the Goose River basin.
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Acknowledgements
This research is funded in part by internal USEPA agency program development of watershed studies. The cooperation of the Maine Geological Survey and Maine Public Health is greatly appreciated. In particular, the author thanks M. Corbin at the Maine Health Engineering Laboratory for access to the drinking water well analytical database for the study area, and R. Voyer at USDA NRCS (Bangor) for soil database assistance. Also, we wish to thank L. Smith of Waldoboro, Maine, for access to homeowner wells. Thanks to P. Barndt at Oak Ridge National Laboratory; K. Kelty and J. Doerger at USEPA WS&WRD, (Cincinnati); staff at the USEPA Isotope Hydrology Laboratory (Cincinnati); and R. Smith and M. Barton, respectively, at the Departments of Chemistry and Geological Sciences at Ohio State University (Columbus).
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Sidle, W.C., Fischer, R.A. Detection of 3H and 85Kr in groundwater from arsenic-bearing crystalline bedrock of the Goose River basin, Maine. Env Geol 44, 781–789 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-003-0826-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-003-0826-x