Applications of radon and radium isotopes to determine submarine groundwater discharge and flushing times in Todos os Santos Bay, Brazil
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2017
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Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
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Todos os Santos Bay (BTS) is the 2nd largest bay in Brazil and an important resource for the people of the
State of Bahia. We made measurements of radon and radium in selected areas of the bay to evaluate if
these tracers could provide estimates of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) and flushing times of
the Paraguaçu Estuary and BTS.We found that there were a few areas along the eastern and northeastern
shorelines that displayed relatively high radon and low salinities, indicating possible sites of enhanced
SGD. A time-series mooring over a tidal cycle at Marina do Bonfim showed a systematic enrichment of
the short-lived radium isotopes 223Ra and 224Ra during the falling tide. Assuming that the elevated
radium isotopes were related to SGD and using measured radium activities from a shallow well at the
site, we estimated groundwater seepage at about 70 m3/day per unit width of shoreline. Extrapolating to
an estimated total shoreline length provided a first approximation of total (fresh þ saline) SGD into BTS
of 300 m3/s, about 3 times the average river discharge into the bay. Just applying the shoreline lengths
from areas identified with high radon and reduced salinity results in a lower SGD estimate of 20 m3/s.
Flushing times of the Paraguaçu Estuary were estimated at about 3e4 days based on changing radium
isotope ratios from low to high salinities. The flushing time for the entire BTS was also attempted using
the same approach and resulted in a surprisingly low value of only 6e8 days. Although physical
oceanographic models have proposed flushing times on the order of months, a simple tidal prism
calculation provided results in the range of 4e7 days, consistent with the radium approach. Based on
these initial results, we recommend a strategy for refining both SGD and flushing time estimates.
Como referenciar
HATJE, VANESSA; ATTISANO, KARINA K.; SOUZA, MARCELO F.L. de; MAZZILLI, BARBARA; OLIVEIRA, JOSELENE de; MORA, TAMIRES de A.; BURNETT, WILLIAM C. Applications of radon and radium isotopes to determine submarine groundwater discharge and flushing times in Todos os Santos Bay, Brazil. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, v. 178-179, p. 136-146, 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.08.004. Disponível em: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/27857. Acesso em: 23 Apr 2024.
Esta referência é gerada automaticamente de acordo com as normas do estilo IPEN/SP (ABNT NBR 6023) e recomenda-se uma verificação final e ajustes caso necessário.