Assessment of recharge and flowpaths in a limestone thermomineral aquifer system using environmental isotope tracers (Central Portugal).

We conducted chemical and isotopic analyses to develop and test a hydrogeological model of thermomineral water circulation in a limestone aquifer system at Caldas da Rainha (Central Portugal), contributing to future borehole-drilling and development strategies, with the aim of extracting waters with the best possible flow and/or temperature. The thermomineral waters (T approximately 33 degrees C) discharge from springs and boreholes located close to a locally N-S-oriented oblique fault (60 degrees E) that places loamy and detritic Upper Jurassic rocks and Hettangian-Rhaetian marls (and evaporitic deposits) in contact. (14)C determinations indicate a pmC content between 29.