Migration of recharge waters downgradient from the Santa Catalina Mountains into the Tucson basin aquifer, Arizona, USA |
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| Authors: | Erin E B Cunningham Austin Long Chris Eastoe R L Bassett |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721–0077, USA, US;(2) Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721–0011, USA, US |
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| Abstract: | Aquifers in the arid alluvial basins of the southwestern U.S. are recharged predominantly by infiltration from streams and
playas within the basins and by water entering along the margins of the basins. The Tucson basin of southeastern Arizona is
such a basin. The Santa Catalina Mountains form the northern boundary of this basin and receive more than twice as much precipitation
(ca. 700 mm/year) as does the basin itself (ca. 300 mm/year). In this study environmental isotopes were employed to investigate
the migration of precipitation basinward through shallow joints and fractures. Water samples were obtained from springs and
runoff in the Santa Catalina Mountains and from wells in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. Stable isotopes (δD
and δ18O) and thermonuclear-bomb-produced tritium enabled qualitative characterization of flow paths and flow velocities. Stable-isotope
measurements show no direct altitude effect. Tritium values indicate that although a few springs and wells discharge pre-bomb
water, most springs discharge waters from the 1960s or later.
Received, February 1997 · Revised, September 1997 · Accepted, September 1997 |
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| Keywords: | USA isotopes fractured rocks arid regions groundwater recharge |
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