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Water
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Tracers and Isotopes Hydrology Innovative Techniques and Significant Challenges
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Tracers and Isotopes Hydrology Innovative Techniques and Significant Challenges

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Hydrogeology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2024) | Viewed by 5675

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alberto Tazioli

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Guest Editor
Department of Science and Matter Engineering, Environment and Urban Planning (SIMAU), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Interests: hydrogeology; hydrology; geomorphology; tracers; fractured rocks; isotope hydrology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Davide Fronzi

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Guest Editor
Department of Science and Matter Engineering, Environment and Urban Planning (SIMAU), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Interests: hydrogeology; fractured rocks; carbonate aquifers; tracers; isotope hydrology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water protection plans, environmental problems, groundwater vulnerability, and engineering geology studies are some of the challenging issues emerging in recent years, to which Tracer and Isotope Hydrology can offer a considerable contribution. Considering this, recent hydrogeological conceptual models integrate water balance results with isotopic and tracers data, as an example.

The purpose of the Special Issue is therefore to present some new techniques employed in hydrology and hydrogeology studies to improve traditional method solutions. In this context, a particular focus will be therefore given to emerging techniques and challenges faced by researchers in the use of natural and/or artificial tracers.

Some issues (although not limited to) can attain to:

  • Natural and artificial tracers in recharge studies on the different kinds of aquifers and/or hydro-structures;
  • The application of new methods of isotope data processing to hydrological and hydrogeological problems;
  • The use of tracing techniques to applied hydrogeological and engineering geology investigations;
  • The use of artificial tracers to investigate the actual groundwater flowpaths and aquifer contacts for stratigraphic or tectonic features in complex environmental contexts;
  • The development of new tracers and new techniques of measure, tested both in the lab and the environment;
  • Studies on surface leaking from lakes, rivers, or reservoirs into groundwater bodies;
  • Isotopic fractionation processes due to the infiltration through the soil, snowmelt, complex orography, and so on.

Prof. Dr. Alberto Tazioli
Dr. Davide Fronzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydrogeology
  • isotopes
  • tracers
  • water balance
  • groundwater flowpath
  • recharge processes
  • water resources
  • advanced techniques

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 15874 KiB  
Article
Assessing Recharge Sources and Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Groundwater: A Hydrogeological and Multi-Isotopic Approach
by Maria Chiara Porru, Claudio Arras, Riccardo Biddau, Rosa Cidu, Francesca Lobina, Francesca Podda, Richard Wanty and Stefania Da Pelo
Water 2024, 16(8), 1106; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16081106 - 12 Apr 2024
Viewed by 768
Abstract
One of the crucial challenges of our time is climate change. The consequences of rising sea levels and drought greatly impact water resources, potentially worsening seawater intrusion. Characterizing coastal aquifers is an essential step in devising strategies to address these phenomena. Seawater intrusion [...] Read more.
One of the crucial challenges of our time is climate change. The consequences of rising sea levels and drought greatly impact water resources, potentially worsening seawater intrusion. Characterizing coastal aquifers is an essential step in devising strategies to address these phenomena. Seawater intrusion poses a critical socio-economic and environmental issue in the coastal plain of Muravera, southeastern Sardinia (Italy). This coastal plain is an important agricultural area in Sardinia, and the health of the crops is compromised by the increasing salinization of shallow groundwater. To enhance our understanding of the hydrogeological conceptual model, which is essential for a sustainable resource management system, hydrogeological investigations were conducted and complemented by the chemical and multi-isotopic analyses of groundwater. The main objectives of this study were to identify groundwater recharge areas, understand salinization mechanisms and trace the evolution of water chemistry. Within this framework, a monthly survey monitoring piezometric level and electrical conductivity was carried out for one year. This survey was integrated with chemical and isotope analyses, including δ18OH2O and δ2HH2O, δ11B, δ18OSO4, δ34SSO4, and 87Sr/86Sr. Hydrochemistry analysis results revealed the occurrence of seawater–freshwater mixing, extending up to 4 km inland. H2O isotope analysis confirmed the mixing processes and indicated the meteoric origin of recharge waters for both shallow and semi-confined aquifers. The strontium isotopes ratio facilitated the identification of four main groundwater flow paths, confirmed by the SIAR model. The results of this combined hydrogeological–geochemical–isotopic survey provide essential elements for the future implementation of an integrated and sustainable management system. These findings enable interventions to slow the process of seawater intrusion and meet the economic needs for the development of local communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tracers and Isotopes Hydrology Innovative Techniques and Significant Challenges)
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14 pages, 3849 KiB  
Article
Isotope-Based Early-Warning Model for Monitoring Groundwater–Leachate Contamination Phenomena: First Quantitative Assessments
by Giuseppe Sappa, Maurizio Barbieri and Francesca Andrei
Water 2023, 15(14), 2646; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15142646 - 21 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1912
Abstract
Groundwater contamination due to municipal solid waste landfills’ leachate is a serious environmental threat. Deuterium (2H) and oxygen (18O) isotopes have been successfully applied to identify groundwater contamination processes, due to interactions with municipal solid waste landfills’ leachate, including [...] Read more.
Groundwater contamination due to municipal solid waste landfills’ leachate is a serious environmental threat. Deuterium (2H) and oxygen (18O) isotopes have been successfully applied to identify groundwater contamination processes, due to interactions with municipal solid waste landfills’ leachate, including significant organic amounts. A parameter influencing the isotope content of deuterium and oxygen18 is the deuterium excess (d or d-excess). This paper presents a d-isotope-based model, defined early-warning model, depending on the assessment of the deuterium excess variations in groundwater samples. The isotopic results are corroborated with the trace elements’ concentrations (Fe, Mn, Ni, Co and Zn), suggesting that the methanogenic activity diminished under trace element limitation. This model provides the determination of an index, F, as the percentage variation of d-excess, which makes it possible to define an alert level system to assess and check groundwater contamination by leachate. The procedure shows that values of F index higher than 1.1 highlight possible contamination phenomena of groundwater due to leachate and, therefore, actions by the municipal solid waste landfill management are required. This early-warning model is presented by the application to a case study in Central Italy in order to evaluate innovative aspects and opportunities to optimize the model. The application of the procedure to the case study highlighted anomalous values of the F index for the samples AD16 (Fmax = 2.069) and AD13 (Fmax = 1.366) in January, April, July and October surveys as well as the boundary values (1 ≤ F ≤ 1.1) for samples AD73 (F = 1.229) and AD68 (F = 1.219) in the April survey. The proposed model can be a useful management tool for monitoring the potential contamination process of groundwater due to the presence of landfills with municipal solid waste, including a significant organic component. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tracers and Isotopes Hydrology Innovative Techniques and Significant Challenges)
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21 pages, 4061 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Artificial Sweeteners as Wastewater Co-Tracers in an Urban Groundwater System of Mexico (Monterrey Metropolitan Area)
by Edrick Ramos, Diego Padilla-Reyes, Abrahan Mora, Hector Barrios-Piña, Shashi Kant and Jürgen Mahlknecht
Water 2022, 14(20), 3210; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14203210 - 12 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2222
Abstract
Contamination from wastewater infiltration, typically from leaky sewers, poses a threat to urban groundwater resources. Artificial sweeteners (Asws), used as sucrose substitutes in many products of daily consumption, are released into groundwater systems and may be used as tracers of wastewater in urban [...] Read more.
Contamination from wastewater infiltration, typically from leaky sewers, poses a threat to urban groundwater resources. Artificial sweeteners (Asws), used as sucrose substitutes in many products of daily consumption, are released into groundwater systems and may be used as tracers of wastewater in urban groundwater environments, because most of these compounds are discharged directly into sewer systems. Here, for the first time, we investigated the occurrence of Asws in an urban groundwater system in Mexico. Artificial sweetener concentrations of acesulfame (ACE), aspartame (ASP), cyclamate (CYC), saccharin (SAC), and sucralose (SUC) were tested in 42 production wells in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA). The detection frequencies of quantified Asws observations were in the order ACE (57%) > SUC (54%) > SAC (7%), with SUC being the most abundant Asws, with concentrations below the quantification limit (BQL) of 2.9 µg/L, followed by ACE (BQL 0.73 µg/L) and SAC (BQL 1.4 µg/L). ASP and CYC were not detected at any sampling site. Considerable Asws ingestion amongst the MMA population is the main input source of Asws into the city’s wastewater network, percolating into the urban groundwater system due to leaky sewers. Our work shows that the application of Asws as wastewater tracers (SUC and ACE) effectively determines wastewater sources affecting urban groundwater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tracers and Isotopes Hydrology Innovative Techniques and Significant Challenges)
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