■ . ÄRID-ZONE HYDROLOGY INVESTIGATIONS WITH SOTOPE TECHNIQUES PROCEEDINGS OF AN ADVISORY GROUP MEETING, VIENNA, 6-9 NOVEMBER 1978 Ш W) INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 1980 ARID-ZONE HYDROLOGY: INVESTIGATIONS WITH ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES STI/PUB/547 CORRIGENDUM Paper IAEA-AG-158/17, by J.Ch. Fontes et al. Page 237, authors’ names F o r P. POUCHON rea d P. POUCHAN (The Contents List should be corrected accordingly) Page 259, equation at top of page F o r 0.3 rea d 0.13 List of Participants Page 265, under ‘International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’ Add the following name: Gonfiantini, R. Section of Isotope Hydrology, (Scientific Secretary) Division of Research and Laboratories ARID-ZONE HYDROLOGY: INVESTIGATIONS WITH ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN HOLY SEE PHILIPPINES ALBANIA HUNGARY POLAND ALGERIA ICELAND PORTUGAL ARGENTINA INDIA QATAR AUSTRALIA INDONESIA ROMANIA AUSTRIA IRAN SAUDI ARABIA BANGLADESH IRAQ SENEGAL BELGIUM IRELAND SIERRA LEONE BOLIVIA ISRAEL SINGAPORE BRAZIL ITALY SOUTH AFRICA BULGARIA IVORY COAST SPAIN BURMA JAMAICA SRI LANKA BYELORUSSIAN SOVIET JAPAN SUDAN SOCIALIST REPUBLIC JORDAN SWEDEN CANADA KENYA SWITZERLAND CHILE KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA KUWAIT THAILAND COSTA RICA LEBANON TUNISIA CUBA LIBERIA TURKEY CYPRUS LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA UGANDA CZECHOSLOVAKIA LIECHTENSTEIN UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA LUXEMBOURG REPUBLIC DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S MADAGASCAR UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF KOREA MALAYSIA REPUBLICS DENMARK MALI UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT ECUADOR MEXICO BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EGYPT MONACO IRELAND EL SALVADOR MONGOLIA UNITED REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA MOROCCO CAMEROON FINLAND NETHERLANDS UNITED REPUBLIC OF FRANCE NEW ZEALAND TANZANIA GABON NICARAGUA . UNITED STATES OF AMERICA GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC NIGER URUGUAY GERMANY, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA VENEZUELA GHANA NORWAY VIET NAM GREECE PAKISTAN YUGOSLAVIA GUATEMALA PANAMA ZAIRE HAITI PARAGUAY ZAMBIA PERU The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world”. © IAEA, 1980 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may be obtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Printed by the IAEA in Austria November 1980 PANEL PROCEEDINGS SERIES ARID-ZONE HYDROLOGY: INVESTIGATIONS W ITH ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES PROCEEDINGS OF AN ADVISORY GROUP MEETING ON APPLICATION OF ISOTOPE TECHIQUES IN ARID ZONES HYDROLOGY ORGANIZED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AND HELD IN VIENNA FROM 6 TO 9 NOVEMBER 1978 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1980 ARID-ZONE HYDROLOGY: INVESTIGATIONS WITH ISOTOPE TECHNIQUES IAEA, VIENNA, 1980 STI/PUB/547 ISBN 92-0-141180-4 FOREWORD The present publication includes the papers presented at the Advisory Group Meeting on the Application of Isotope Techniques to Arid-Zone Hydrology, which was held in Vienna from 6 to 9 November 1978. Twenty-eight scientists - twenty-two invited participants and six observers — representing fourteen countries and one international organization, attended the meeting which was chaired by Professor J.Ch. Fontes of the University of Paris-Sud. It is frequently admitted that isotope hydrology has achieved the most significant results in arid zones. The most frequent applications of environmental isotope techniques are, on the basis of the papers presented at the meeting: ( 1 ) To investigate the occurrence and the mechanisms of modern recharge which, in extremely arid zones, seems to take place mainly through wadis rather than through direct infiltration of the rainfall; this latter mechanism seems to be significant only in less arid and in semi-arid areas. (2) To assess the occurrence and the characteristics of past recharge and of palaeogroundwaters, which are anon-renewable resource. (3) To provide evidence of interconnections between aquifers. All these problems are quite complex and therefore the isotopic data should be interpreted together with all available hydrological, hydrogeological and hydro­ chemical data. It should be emphasized, however, that isotopes often provide a type of information which is not possible to obtain with other techniques. For instance, tritium occurrence is a definite proof of the presence of modern water in an aquifer, and stable isotopes can be used as conservative tracers to prove or disprove interconnections between aquifers and to follow groundwater flow patterns. In conclusion, we believe that this book gives a sufficiently complete and up-to-date account of the progress made by environmental isotope techniques in arid-zone hydrology, as well as of the problems that still remain open and demand further thought and data. It is hoped therefore that hydrogeologists working in arid zones who are not familiar with the use of isotope techniques will find in this book ideas and suggestions on how to tackle some of the problems that they are facing. CONTENTS GROUNDWATER RECHARGE STUDIES Precipitation, flood- and groundwaters of the Negev highlands: An isotopic study of desert hydrology (IAEA-AG-158/1 ) ...................... 3 M. Levin, J.R. Gat, A. Issar Use of environmental isotopes in arid-zone hydrology (IAEA-AG-158/2)... 23 T. D in ger Interpretation of environmental isotopic groundwater data: Arid and semi-arid zones (IAEA-AG-158/3) ............................................. 31 M .A . G eyh A geochemical and isotopic approach to recharge evaluation in semi-arid zones: Past and present (IAEA-AG-158/4)................................... 47 W.M. Edmunds, N.R.G. Walton An examination of recharge mound decay and fossil gradients in arid regional sedimentary basins (IAEA-AG-158/5)....... ....................... 69 J.W . L lo y d Environmental isotopes in North African groundwaters; and the Dahna sand-dune study, Saudi Arabia (IAEA-AG-158/6).............. ............. 77 C. Sonntag, G. Thoma, K.O. Münnich, T. Dinçer, E. Klitzsch An injected gamma-tracer method for soil-moisture movement investigations in arid zones (IAEA-AG-158/7)............................... 85 ■ A. R. Nair, S. V. Navada, S.M. Rao Aspects of the isotope hydrology of two sandstone aquifers in arid Australia (IAEA-AG-158/8) ..................................................... 93 P.L. Airey, G.E. Calf, RE. Hartley, D. Roman Study of the leakage between two aquifers in Hermosillo, Mexico, using environmental isotopes (IAEA-AG-158/9) ................................... 113 B.R. Payne, L. Quijano, L. Latorre D. FIELD INVESTIGATIONS ON GROUNDWATER ORIGIN AND FLOW PATTERNS Utilization of natural isotopes in the study of salination of the waters in the Pajeú River Valley, northeast Brazil (IAEA-AG-158/10).............. 133 E. Salati, E. Matsui, J.M. Leal, P. Fritz Isotope investigations as a tool for regional hydrogeological studies in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (IAEA-AG-158/11 ) ............................ 153 D. Srdoc, Adela Sliepcevic, B. Obelic, Nada Horvatincic, H. Moser, W. Stichler Groundwater flow patterns in the western Libyan Arab Jamahiriya evaluated from isotopic data (IAEA-AG-158/12)........................... 165 ‘ 0. Salem, J.H. Visser, M. Dray, R. Gonfiantini Recharge of groundwaters in arid areas: Case of the Djeffara Plain in Tripolitania, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (IAEA-AG-158/13) ................ 181 M. Allemmoz, Ph. Olive Aspects of environmental isotope chemistry in groundwaters in Eastern Jordan (IAEA-AG-158/14) ...................................................... 193 J. W. Lloyd A conceptual hydrochemical model for alluvial aquifers on the Saudi Arabian basement shield (IAEA-AG-158/15) ................................ 205 /. W. Lloyd, P. Fritz, D. Charlesworth Isotope methods as a tool for Quaternary studies in Saudi Arabia (IAEA-AG-158/16) ................................... ............................ 215 H: Hötzl, C. Job, H. Moser, W. Rauert, W. Stichler, J.G. Zötl Environmental isotope study of groundwater systems in the Republic of Djibouti (IAEA-AG-158/17) .................................................... 237 J.Ch. Fontes, P. Pouchon, J.F. Saliege, G.M. Zuppi List of Participants................................................................... 263 GROUNDWATER RECHARGE STUDIES IAEA-AG-158/1 PRECIPITATION, FLOOD- AND GROUNDWATERS OF THE NEGEV HIGHLANDS: AN ISOTOPIC STUDY OF DESERT HYDROLOGY M. LEVIN*, J.R. GAT**, A. ISSAR* ♦Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sdeh-Boqer **Isotope Research Department, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel Abstract PRECIPITATION, FLOOD- AND GROUNDWATERS OF THE NEGEV HIGHLANDS: AN ISOTOPIC STUDY OF DESERT HYDROLOGY. Precipitation in the Negev highlands was found to be surprisingly depleted of 180 and deuterium and generally characterized by “deuterium excess” values of d > 15%o. Isotopic compositions are relatively uniform over a wide area on any particular day, but differ appreciably from storm to storm. Thus, they are valuable tools for hydrographic analysis of flood-flows. Flood-flow samples, collected in Nahal-Zin and Nahal-Besor, were often even more depleted in heavy isotopes than the total rainstorm,