Harold A. Wollenberg

Groundwater contamination at the Kesterson Reservoir, California. 2. Geochemical parameters influencing selenium mobility

Transport of selenium in groundwater at the Kesterson Reservoir in the Central Valley of California was strongly retarded because of chemical reduction and precipitation mediated by microbial activity. Under such conditions, negative correlations were documented between aqueous Se and Fe{sup 2+}, Mn, and H{sub 2}S. Locally, the presence of oxidizing species, notably O{sub 2} and NO{sub 3}, suppressed this reduction, permitting Se mobilization in the shallow aquifer. Selenate, the dominant and most oxidized form of Se, was in electrochemical disequilibrium with subordinate concentrations of selenite. Normally slow inorganic reduction rates were accelerated by microbial activity which utilizes oxidized chemical species including selenate as electron donors during the oxidation of organic matter. Two stratified redox barriers to selenium migration were documented beneath Kesterson: an underlying shallow anoxic zone underlying most of the pond bottom, characterized by high organic content and sulfate reduction, and a deeper dynamic front established by localized O{sub 2} infiltration from the overlying ponds and Fe{sup 2+} release from aquifer materials. The reducing nature of this deeper aquifer ultimately precludes Se transport to regional groundwater.

Radon-222 in groundwater of the Long Valley caldera, California

In the Long Valley caldera, where seismicity has continued essentially uninterrupted since mid-1980 and uplift is documented, samples of water from hot, warm, and cold springs have been collected since September, 1982, and their222Rn concentrations analyzed. Concurrently, rocks encompassing the hydrologic systems feeding the springs were analyzed for their radioelement contents, because their uranium is the ultimate source of the222Rn in the water.The222Rn concentration in the springs varies inversely with their temperature and specific conductance. High concentrations (1500 to 2500 picocuries per liter) occur in dilute cold springs on the margins of the caldera, while low contents (12 to 25 pCi/l) occur in hot to boiling springs. Springwater radon concentrations also correlate slightly with the uranium content of the encompassing rocks.A continuous monitoring system was installed in August, 1983, at a spring issuing from basalt, to provide hourly records of radon concentration. A gamma detector is submerged in a natural pool, and we have observed that the radioactivity measured in this manner is due almost entirely to the222Rn concentration of the water. Initial operation shows diurnal and semidiurnal variations in the222Rn concentration of the springwater that are ascribed to earth tides, suggesting that those variations are responding to small changes in stress in the rocks encompassing the hydrologic system.

Drill-Core Scanning for Radioelements by Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

A system has been developed for the continuous and stepwise scanning of rock drill cores for gamma‐ray spectrometric determinations of uranium, thorium, and potassium. The apparatus accomodates 3‐ to 4‐cm‐diameter core as it passes two opposing 2‐inch diameter by 3‐inch‐ thick NaI(Tl) detectors, either continuously, at speeds ranging from one to several meters per hour, or in steps of 5 cm or more. Resulting gamma‐ray spectra, as recorded with a multi channel analyzer, are computer processed, furnishing scale diagrams of individual radioelement contents and Th/U ratios in the core. Whole‐rock assays of one‐meter‐long core sections by continuous scanning are accurate and precise to within 10 percent or better. In the step‐scanning mode, the system can resolve peak concentrations of U and Th with an accuracy of about 15 percent. Continuous one‐meter scans of 3500 m of core from the Ilimaussaq intrusion, South Greenland, provided an evaluation of uranium resources in the course of seven months. Examination o...