Groundwater sources for the Mataranka Springs (Northern Territory, Australia).

The Mataranka Springs Complex is the headwater of the iconic Roper River of northern Australia. Using environmental tracers measured in springs and nearby boreholes, the origin of groundwater contributing to the springs was evaluated to help assess the impact of proposed groundwater extraction in the Cambrian Limestone Aquifer (CLA) for irrigation agriculture and for hydraulic fracturing in the Beetaloo Sub-basin (an anticipated world-class unconventional gas reserve). Major ions, Sr, Sr/Sr, δO-HO, δH-HO, H, C-DIC were consistent with regional groundwater from the Daly and Georgina basins of the CLA as the sources of water sustaining the major springs (Rainbow and Bitter) and one of the minor springs (Warloch Pond).

Modelling Kr datasets with python for applications in tracer hydrology and to investigate atmospheric circulation.

We present a model written in python to evaluate data from comprehensive Kr collection schemes comprising 11 datasets from different monitoring stations around the globe. The model is designed to (1) calculate atmospheric input functions for the application of Kr as a dating tracer and (2) to investigate atmospheric circulation based on a two-box model of the atmosphere. Different functions were implemented, to (1) filter the data, (2) fit polynomials and running means, (3) extrapolate fits from the northern to the southern hemisphere, (4) calculate interhemispheric exchange times and Kr emission rates and (5) export data to a csv file.

Krypton-85 datasets of the northern and southern hemisphere collected over the past 60 years.

With a half-life of 10.7 years, the noble gas radioisotope Kr is perfectly suited as a tracer to date ice and water that formed during the past half century. Furthermore, due to its inhomogeneous input into the atmosphere, it is a useful tool to investigate atmospheric circulation and back-trajectory analysis.