Tritium-Hydrologic Research: Some Results of the U.S. Geological Survey Research Program

Journal/Book: Reprinted from Science February 21 1964 Vol. 143 No. 3608 pages 804-806. 1964;

Abstract: U.S. Geological Survey Washington D.C. 20242 Abstract. In general tritium is of limited usefulness as a tool in hydrologic studies because the tritium content of ground water as a result of radioactive decay becomes too low to be detectable after about 50 years. Nevertheless a unique study was made of the hydrologic cycle of small stream basins in Wisconsin and New Jersey on the basis of measurements relative to the peak of tritium fallout in the spring of 1958. The continental and the coastal basins received approximately the same tritium fallout. Approximately 30 percent went into ground-water storage the remainder being exported as runoff and evapo-transpiration. The mean residence time for ground-water recharge for the two basins was 45 and 30 days respectively. ___MH

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