Recharge and residence times of groundwater in hyper arid areas: The confined aquifer of Calama, Loa River Basin, Atacama Desert, Chile

The Science of the Total Environment
Christian HerreraFabiola Barrenechea

Abstract

Groundwater recharge in hyper arid areas often depends on surface water infiltration and diffuse recharge of highly evaporated precipitation only contribute under favorable conditions. This happens in the Calama basin two-aquifer system, in the Central Andean area of northern Chile. A conceptual model of the groundwater system and its relationship with the Loa River is defined. We focus on the confined aquifer of the Calama basin, combining hydrodynamic, hydrogeochemical and isotopic methods. Radiocarbon (14C) activity data of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), in conjunction with chemical data, are applied to evaluate groundwater residence time within the confined aquifer. The Loa River recharges the Calama basin aquifers in its northeastern part, with water that has chemical and isotopic characteristics inherited from the arid environment and volcanic rocks in its upper basin. In the central and northeastern part of the confined aquifer, minor variations in chloride concentration suggest that the deep aquifer is well confined. The δ18O and δ2H values in groundwater of the confined aquifer show an increasing isotopic fractionation from the recharge area (around -10‰ δ18O) to those in the discharge area (between -8.5‰ and -8‰) i...Continue Reading

References

Jul 23, 2003·Ground Water·Errol L MontgomeryPaolo S Bevacqua
Jun 12, 2008·Ecology·James B Heffernan

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Citations

Apr 28, 2021·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Yinfei LuoGaofeng Dong

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