Dissolved Organic Carbon 14C in Southern Nevada Groundwater and Implications for Groundwater Travel Times
Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) carbon-14 ( 14 C) ages must be corrected for complex chemical and physical reactions and processes that change the amount of 14 C in groundwater as it flows from recharge to downgradient areas. Because of these reactions, DIC 14 C can produce unrealistically old ages and long groundwater travel times that may, or may not, agree with travel times estimated by other methods. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) 14 C ages are often younger than DIC 14 C ages because there are few chemical reactions or physical processes that change the amount of DOC 14 C in groundwater. However, there are several issues that create uncertainty in DOC 14 C groundwater ages including limited knowledge of the initial (A 0 ) DOC 14 C in groundwater recharge and potential changes in DOC composition as water moves through an aquifer. This study examines these issues by quantifying A 0 DOC 14 C in recharge areas of southern Nevada groundwater flow systems and by evaluating changes in DOC composition as water flows from recharge areas to downgradient areas. The effect of these processes on DOC 14 C groundwater ages is evaluated and DOC and DIC 14 C ages are then compared along several southern Nevada groundwater flow paths. Twenty-seven groundwater samples were collected from springs and wells in southern Nevada in upgradient, midgradient, and downgradient locations. DOC 14 C for upgradient samples ranged from 96 to 120 percent modern carbon (pmc) with an average of 106 pmc, verifying modern DOC 14 C ages in recharge areas, which decreases uncertainty in DOC 14 C A 0 values, groundwater ages, and travel times. The HPLC spectra of groundwater along a flow path in the Spring Mountains show the same general pattern indicating that the DOC compound composition does not change along this flow path. Although DOC concentration decreases from recharge-area to downgradient groundwater, the organic compounds are similar, indicating that DOC 14 C is unaffected by other processes such as microbial degradation. A small amount of organic carbon was leached from crushed volcanic and carbonate aquifer outcrop rock in rock-leaching experiments. The leached DOC was high in 14 C (75 pmc carbonate rocks, 91 pmc volcanic) suggesting that the leached DOC likely came from microbes in the rock samples. The small amount of DOC and high 14 C indicates that the amount of old organic carbon in these rocks is low so there should be minimal impact on groundwater DOC 14 C ages. Based on the results from this study, DOC 14 C ages do not require additional corrections. Several correction models were applied to DIC 14 C ages to correct for water-rock reactions along two carbonate and two volcanic flow paths and the corresponding travel times were compare to DOC 14 C travel times. The DOC 14 C travel times were hundreds to thousands of years shorter than uncorrected and corrected DIC 14 C travel times except for the upper section of one carbonate flow path. DOC 14 C travel times ranged from 400 to 5,400 years as compared to DIC 14 C that ranged from modern to 20,900 years. The DIC 14 C ages are greatly influenced by carbonate mineral and gas reactions and other processes such as matrix diffusion, isotope exchange, or adsorption, which are not always adequately accounted for in DIC 14 C groundwater age correction models.