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Tritium/Helium-3 Dating

First, the USGS summarizes the use of tritium and helium-3 for dating geologically young groundwater (1). Researchers can find the conditions needed to solve the helium isotope mass balance as well as equations and corrections needed to obtain the age of water. The second website, provided by the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, discusses the presence of tritium and helium isotopes in the oceans (2). Users can find out about the Noble Gas Isotope Lab's research projects including the _Mantle 3He Distribution and Deep Circulation in the Indian Ocean_. Next, the University of Ottawa offers equations for helium and tritium concentrations and decay (3). Visitors can also learn how solubility of noble gases is affected by temperature. Fourth, the University of Waterloo describes the characteristics of the hydrogen radioisotope, tritium (4). The website explains how tritium was discovered through the work of Lord Rutherford, Sir John, Ernest Lawrence, Luis Alvarex, Willard Libby, and others. Next, the University of T'bingen furnishes a pdf file dealing with numerous dating techniques including fission track, radio carbon, and thermoluminescence dating (5). Beginning on page nine, individuals can learn about tritium formation and decay as well as its use in dating ground water. At the sixth website, the USGS describes the characteristics of the stable isotopes of helium (6). Visitors can discover how 3He is used to date geologically young ground water, whereas 4He is used to date older ground water. The seventh website, created by SAHRA (Sustainability of semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas) at the University of Arizona, illustrates the effectiveness of isotope hydrology in "understanding fundamental physical, chemical, biological, and climate forcing processes occurring in a watershed" (7). Along with the discussion of the fundamentals of age dating and sources of isotopes, visitors can learn the advantages to using tritium for water samples collected in the field. Lastly, the Victoria University of Manchester introduces its research using noble gas isotopes to better understand earth systems (8). Visitors can discover the decay rates of tritium to 3He and the rates of accumulation of 4He in older groundwater as well as many applications of dating water.
Alternate Title
Noble Gas Isotope LabGroundwater Dating with 3H - 3HeTritiumDating Applications Periodic Table - HeliumDating Groundwater with IsotopesIsotope Geochem
Language
Date of Scout Publication
November 30th, 1999
Date Of Record Creation
February 4th, 2005 at 8:34am
Date Of Record Release
February 14th, 2005 at 1:52pm
Resource URL Clicks
3

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Cumulative Rating
100
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