Noble Gases
Groundwater recharge
temperatures
He
Ne
Ar
Kr
Xe
Gaz nobles
1
n
18
1
5
Be
B
1
2
6
12
Na
Mg
1
2
19
4
6
Li
11
20
4
3
21
5
22
6
23
7
24
Ca
Sc
Ti
V
Cr
1
2
3
4
5
3
38
39
40
41
Rb
Sr
Y
Zr
1
2
3
4
16
55
56
57
72
27
11
28
12
29
30
13
17
C
N
Si
3
4
32
Ni
Cu
Zn
Ga
Ge
As
23
2
12
2
3
4
3,5
45
7
34
76
75
46
Rh
47
Pd
234
24
77
78
48
49
50
51
Ag
Cd
In
Sn
Sb
1
2
3
4,2
3,5
79
80
81
O
P
–3 5
33
Co
Ru
9
–4 –2 0 –3 0 3 5 –2 0
14 4
15
16
Al
31
8
Fe
Tc
46
74
10
7
432
23
43
44
Mo
35
73
9
26
Mn
42
Nb
8
25
K
37
2
He
82
83
S
10
F
Ne
–1
0
17
18
Cl
–2 0 4 6 –1
34
35
Se
0
36
Br
–2 0 4 6 –1
52
53
Te
Ar
I
–2 0 4 6 –1
84
85
Kr
0
54
Xe
0
86
Cs
Ba
La
Hf
Ta
W
Re
Os
Ir
Pt
Au
Hg
Ti
Pb
Bi
Po
At
Rn
1
2
3
4
5
46
7
34
246
24
13
2
13
2
35
24
–1
0
59
61
87
7
15
0
4
2
6
14
1
3
5
13
2
H
1
3
Groupe 18
88
89
Fr
Ra
Ac
1
2
3
58
59
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
Ce
Pr
Nd
Pm
Sm
Eu
Gd
Tb
Dy
Ho
Er
Tm
Yb
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
90
91
92
93
94
95
97
96
Th
Pa
U
Np
Pu
Am
Cm
4
5
46
45
4
3
3
Bk
99
98
Cf
3
34
Es
100
Fm
101
Md
102
No
Lu
3
103
Lr
Noble gas solubilities and temperature
C0°C
1.1
cc STP/cc H2O
Relative solubility (C/C
0°C )
1
He (C0°C = 5.0 ∙10–8)
0.9
0.8
Ne (C0°C = 2.3 ∙10–7)
0.7
0.6
0.5
Ar (C0°C = 5.0 ∙10–4)
0.4
Kr (C0°C = 1.3 ∙10–7)
Xe (C0°C = 2.0 ∙10–8)
0.3
0
10
20
Temperature °C
30
40
0.25
.
Solubility (cc STP / cc H2O atm
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0
10
20
O
Temperature ( C)
30
Solubility in Brines
6E-04
3E-07
Neon
Fresh water
Seawater
Argon
Fresh water
Seawater
Brine
5E-04
Brine
Solubility cc/cc H2O
Solubility cc/cc H2O
2E-07
2E-07
1E-07
5E-08
4E-04
3E-04
2E-04
1E-04
0E+00
0E+00
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0
10
20
Temperature °C
1E-07
30
40
50
60
Temperature °C
3E-08
Krypton
Fresh water
Seawater
Brine
1E-07
Xenon
Fresh water
Seawater
Brine
2E-08
Solubility cc/cc H2O
Solubility cc/cc H2O
1E-07
8E-08
6E-08
2E-08
1E-08
4E-08
5E-09
2E-08
0E+00
0E+00
0
10
20
30
Temperature °C
40
50
60
0
10
20
30
Temperature °C
40
50
60
PINCH IT!
pinch zone in clamp
cradle
Diffusion Sampler Design
Diffusion Sampler
Diffusion Sampler
Ne
29-May-02 35-B
Yellowknife B8906.1.1
B8906.1.1
time (min.)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
cc sample
mass H2O
cc/ccH2O
3He/4He
M-57
0.0246
0.0247
0.0245
0.0249
0.0243
0.0241
0.0238
0.0239
0.0243
0.0250
0.0257
0.0263
0.0267
0.0268
0.0271
0.0
1.88E-03
8.12
2.31E-04
water @ 5°
4.9E-08
brine @ 0°
9.5E-09
overpressuring
Air contamination cc 7.5E-08
Corr Gl+modern
2.31E-04
Fraction composition dry air
He
5.20E-06
Ne
1.80E-05
Ar
9.30E-03
Kr
1.10E-06
Xe
8.60E-08
20Ne/22Ne vol Ne
36Ar/40Ar vol Ar
78Kr/84Kr vol Kr
M-37
30 M-57
1000 M-57
0.1023 3.07E+00
0.00599 5.99E+00
9.35
0.0975 2.92E+00
0.00595 5.95E+00
9.52
0.0952 2.86E+00
0.00599 5.99E+00
9.66
0.0942 2.83E+00
0.00592 5.92E+00
9.86
0.0946 2.84E+00
0.00589 5.89E+00
10.04
0.0949 2.85E+00
0.00585 5.85E+00
10.31
0.0947 2.84E+00
0.00582 5.82E+00
10.53
0.0942 2.82E+00
0.00575 5.75E+00
10.68
0.0934 2.80E+00
0.00571 5.71E+00
10.80
0.0927 2.78E+00
0.00570 5.70E+00
10.96
0.0922 2.77E+00
0.00564 5.64E+00
11.00
0.0913 2.74E+00
0.00563 5.63E+00
11.25
0.0913 2.74E+00
0.00554 5.54E+00
11.38
0.0914 2.74E+00
0.00556 5.56E+00
11.45
0.0920 2.76E+00
0.00548 5.48E+00
11.50
10.7276
0.0060
9.3488
3.86E-06
4.72E-03
9.83E-07
8.12
8.12
8.12
4.75E-07
5.82E-04
1.21E-07
40/36 ratio
302
2.17E-07
4.4E-04
1.1E-07
3.4E-08
6.6E-05
1.9E-08
2.19
1.33
1.13
0.0143637
2.6E-07
1.3E-04
1.6E-08
2.17E-07
4.48E-04
1.05E-07
1.0000
9.45E-01 1.06E-03 0.0537849
3H
24.00
cc/cc at T
% brine
0.0010609
0
% glacial
0.0537849
1E-07 Ne
2.3
% modern
0.9451542
1E-04 Ar
5.0
1E-08 Kr
12.7
1E-08 Xe
1.9
Original tracer volume inserted - May
originals1 originals2
originals3
132Xe/136Xevol Xe
He
4.69E-05
3.51E-05 ######
M-57
Ne
3.75E-05
7.91E-06 ######
Didn't have the new XwAr
1.26E-05
6.20E-04 ######
spike yet
Kr
5.75E-06
1.64E-06 ######
4.06E-08 ######
Vair = Vt * [tXt - airXt*R]/[airXair*R - tXair]
Mole % of isotope in Tracer
Mole fraction of isotope in Air
Isotope
Isotope
3He
0.9999
3He
1.4E-06
4He
0.0001
4He
1
20Ne
0.0010
20Ne
0.905
22Ne
0.9990
22Ne
0.0923
36Ar
1.0000
36Ar
0.003 0.003364 1.01782
40Ar
0.0000
40Ar
0.997
0.996 1.017812
78Kr
0.9914
78Kr
0.003
8.7E-06
84Kr
0.0086
84Kr
0.57
132Xe
0
132Xe
0.269
136Xe
1
136Xe
0.089
1.9E-08
2.3E-09
T
6.5 average
2.9
5.2
6.3 stdev
0.0
2.02
202
0
0
0
Case study – Bunter Sandstone, UK
Ar/Kr paleo-T °C
-8
12
8
4
0
0
10
20
30
Age ka
40
-9
18
 O ‰ VSMOW W
-7
16
Modern (3H > 2 TU)
Paleo-groundwaters
-10
-10000
0
10000
20000
14
Corrected C age (years)
30000
40000
3
H - free groundwaters
H > 2 TU
-9
60
-10
40
-11
14
C
C
14
Down-gradient evolution of
a14C and 13C in groundwaters
from the Bunter sandstone.
The inverse correlation of a14C
with d13C demonstrates the
effect of non-decay reaction in
attenuating 14C.
-8
13
-12
20
-13
0
 13C ‰ VPDB B
-14
1
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
25
28
30
Ar/Kr paleo-T °C
Site  down-gradient
-7
 O ‰ VSMOW W
-8
16
12
8
4
0
0
10
20
30
40
Ageofkanon-decay reaction in attenuating 1
Fig. 8-9 Down-gradient evolution of a14C and 13C in groundwaters from the Bunter sandstone. The inverse correlation of a14C with 13C demonstrates the effect
-9
18
a CDIC pmC C
3
80
Modern (3H > 2 TU)
Paleo-groundwaters
-10
-10000
0
10000
20000
Corrected 14C age (years)
30000
40000
Noble gas isolation and measurement
by quadrupole mass spectrometry
Ian, I don’t think
it’ll work on Mars.
Isotope dilution method
Atmosphere
Spike
Vol - unknown
4He
20Ne
40Ar
84Kr
132Xe
Vol - known
3He
22Ne
36Ar
78Kr
136Xe
Andrews, J.N., N. Hussain, and M.J. Youngman, 1989. Atmospheric and radiogenic
gases in groundwaters from the Stripa granite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53, 1831-1841.
Poole, Jason C., Gavin McNeill, Stephen R. Langman, and Frank Dennis (1997). Analysis of noble gas
in water using a quadrupole mass spectrometer in static mode. Applied Geochemistry 12: 707-714.
Pinti, Daniele L., and Eddy Van Drom (1998). PALEOTEMP: A Mathematica® program for
evaluating paleotemperatures from the concentration of atmosphere-derived noble gases in ground
water. Computers and Geosciences 24: 33-41.
Isotope Dilution
Atmosphere
Vol - unknown
4He
20Ne
40Ar
84Kr
132Xe
Spike
Vol - known
3He
22Ne
36Ar
78Kr
136Xe
VKr(atm)
R84/78 = —––––
VKr(spike)
3He
4He
• geothermal studies
• groundwater age (4He from a decay)
• tritium/He dynamics
Clark, I.D. and Phillips, R.J., 2000.
Geochemical and 3He/4He evidence for
mantle and crustal contributions to
geothermal fluids in the western Canadian
continental margin. Journal of Volcanology
and Geothermal Research, 104: 261-276