Abstract
The identification and provenance of unique coastal water masses is essential in near-shore biogeochemical studies. Water mass mixing and residence times impact water quality and can play a role in the evolution of algal blooms. Such information is thus critical for resource managers who have an interest in understanding the source and fate of contaminants and their eventual fate in the coastal ocean. If mixing is important for quantitatively assessing the amount of exchange, the water residence time or water age is important to assess the rate of this exchange. An understanding of water mass residence times is useful to examine time scales of contaminant discharge and to evaluate transport phenomena.
This review summarizes the scientific significance, measurement approaches, and models to evaluate coastal water mixing and residence times using radium isotopes. Each method or model described here is valid, although each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Examples of mixing among different end-members are given as case studies. All approaches presented here demonstrate the utility of radium isotopes for the evaluation of water mass mixing and residence times.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bailly BP (1996) Mapping of water masses in the North Sea using radioactive tracers. Endeavour 20:2–7
Baskaran M, Murray DJ, Santschi PH et al (1993) A method for rapid in situ extraction and laboratory determination of Th, Pb, and Ra isotopes from large volumes of seawater. Deep Sea Res 40:849–865
Baskaran M, Hong GH, Santschi PH (2009) Radionuclide analyses in seawater. In: Wurl O (ed) Practical guidelines for the analysis of seawater. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 259–304
Bolin B, Rodhe H (1973) A note on the concepts of age distribution and transit time in natural reservoirs. Tellus 25:58–63
Burnett WC, Aggarwal PK, Bokuniewicz H et al (2006) Quantifying submarine groundwater discharge in the coastal zone via multiple methods. Sci Total Environ 367:498–543
Chen CT (1985) Preliminary observations of oxygen and carbon dioxide of the winter time Bering Sea marginal ice zone. Cont Shelf Res 4:465–483
Chen CTA, Ruo R, Pai SC et al (1995) Exchange of water masses between the East China Sea and the Kuroshio off northeastern Taiwan. Cont Shelf Res 15:19–39
Chung YC, Craig H (1980) 226Ra in the Pacific Ocean. Earth Planet Sci Lett 49:267–292
Chung YC, Kim K (1980) Excess 222Rn and the benthic boundary layer in the western and southern Indian Ocean. Earth Planet Sci Lett 49:351–359
Deleersnijder E, Campin JM, Delhez EJM (2001) The concept of age in marine modeling. I. I. Theory and preliminary model results. J Mar Syst 28:229–267
Delhez EJM, Campin JM, Hirst AC et al (1999) Toward a general theory of the age in ocean modeling. Ocean Model 1:17–27
Dulaiova H, Burnett WC (2007) Evaluation of the flushing rates of Apalachicola Bay, Florida via natural geochemical tracers. Mar Chem. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2007.09.001
Dulaiova H, Burnett WC, Wattayakorn G, Sojisuporn P (2006) Are groundwater inputs into river-dominated areas important? The Chao Phraya River – Gulf of Thailand. Limnol Oceanogr 51:2232–2247
Hancock GJ, Martin P (1991) Determination of Ra in environmental samples by alpha-particle spectrometry. Appl Radiat Isot 42:63–69
Helland-Hansen B (1916) Nogen hydrografiske metoder. Forh Skand Naturf Mote 16:357–359
Henry-Edwards A, Tomczak M (2006) Detecting changes in Labrador Sea Water through a water mass analysis of BATS data. Ocean Sci 2:19–25
Hong GH, Zhang J, Chung CS (2002) Impact of interface exchange on the biogeochemical processes of the yellow and East China seas. Bum Shin Press, Korea
Hong G-H et al (2011) Applications of anthropogenic radionuclides as tracers to investigate marine environmental processes. In: Baskaran M (ed) Handbook of environmental isotope geochemistry. Springer, Berlin
Hougham AL, Moran SB (2007) Water mass ages of coastal ponds estimated using 223Ra and 224Ra as tracers. Mar Chem 105:194–207
Iseki K, Okamura K, Kiyomoto K (2003) Seasonality and composition of downward particulate fluxes at the continental shelf and Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea. Deep Sea Res 50:457–473
Jacobsen JP (1927) Eine graphsche Methode zur Bestimmung des Vermischungs-Koeffzienten in Meere. Gerlands Beitr Geophsik 16:404
Katz BG, Coplen TB, Bullen TD et al (1997) Use of chemical and isotopic Tracers to characterize the interactions between ground water and surface water in mantled karst. Ground Water 35:1014–1028
Key RM, Stallard RF, Moore WS et al (1985) Distribution and flux of 226Ra and 228Ra in the Amazon River estuary. J Geophys Res 90:6995–7004
Kim G, Ryu JW, Yang HS et al (2005) Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into the Yellow Sea revealed by 228Ra and 226Ra isotopes: implications for global silicate fluxes. Earth Planet Sci Lett 237:156–166
Klein B, Tomczak M (1994) Identification of diapycnal mixing through Optimum Multi-parameter analysis: 2. Evidence for unidirectional diapycnal mixing in the front between North and South Atlantic Central Water. J Geophys Res 99:25275–25280
Krest JM, Moore WS, Rama (1999) 226Ra and 228Ra in the mixing zones of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers: indicators of groundwater input. Mar Chem 64:129–152
Lakey BL, Krothe NC (1996) Stable isotopic variation of storm discharge from a Perennial karst spring, Indiana. Water Resour Res 32:721–731
Lee ES, Krothe NC (2001) A four-component mixing model for water in a karst terrain in south-central Indiana, USA. Using solute concentration and stable isotopes as tracers. Chem Geol 179:129–143
Li YH, Chan LH (1979) Adsorptions of Ba and 226Ra from river borne sediments in the Hudson estuary. Earth Planet Sci Lett 43:343–350
Liu B, Phillips F, Hoines S et al (1995) Water movement in desert soil traced by hydrogen and oxygen isotopes, chloride, and chlorine-36, southern Arizona. J Hydrol 168:91–110
Maamaatuaiahutapu K, Garcon VC, Provost C et al (1992) Brazil-Malvinas Confluence: water mass composition. J Geophys Res 97:9493–9505
Maamaatuaiahutapu K, Garcon VC, Provost C et al (1994) Spring and winter water mass composition in the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence. J Mar Res 52:397–426
Miller AR (1950) A study of mixing processes over the edge of the continental shelf. J Mar Res 9:145–160
Monsen NE, Cloern JE, Lucas LV (2002) A comment on the use of flushing time, residence time, and age as transport time scales. Limnol Oceanogr 47:1545–1553
Moore WS (1969) The measurements of 228Ra and 228Th in sea water. J Geophys Res 74:694–704
Moore WS (1976) Sampling radium-228 in the deep ocean. Deep Sea Res 23:647–651
Moore WS (1981) Radium isotopes in the Chesapeake Bay. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 12:713–723
Moore WS (1996) Large ground water inputs to coastal waters revealed by 226Ra enrichments. Nature 380:612–614
Moore WS (1999) The subterranean estuary: a reaction zone of ground water and sea water. Mar Chem 65:111–125
Moore WS (2000) Determining coastal mixing rates using radium isotopes. Cont Shelf Res 20:1993–2007
Moore WS (2003) Sources and fluxes of submarine groundwater discharge delineated by radium isotopes. Biogeochemistry 66:75–93
Moore WS (2006) Radium isotopes as tracers of submarine groundwater discharge in Sicily. Cont Shelf Res 26:852–861
Moore WS, Arnold R (1996) Measurement of 223Ra and 224Ra in coastal waters using a delayed coincidence counter. J Geophys Res 101:1321–1329
Moore WS (2007) Fifteen years experience in measuring 224Ra and 223Ra by delayed-coincidence counting. Mar Chem. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2007.06.015
Moore DG, Scott MR (1986) Behavior of 226Ra in the Mississippi River mixing zone. J Geophys Res 91:14317–14329
Moore WS, Todd JF (1993) Radium isotopes in the Orinoco estuary and eastern Caribbean Sea. J Geophys Res 98:2233–2244
Moore WS, Sarmiento JL, Key RM (1986) Tracing the Amazon component of surface Atlantic water using 228Ra, salinity and silica. J Geophys Res 91:2574–2580
Moore WS, Blanton JO, Joye SB (2006) Estimates of flushing times, submarine groundwater discharge, and nutrient fluxes to Okatee Estuary, South Carolina. J Geophys Res 111:1–14
Nozaki Y, Kasemuspaya V, Tsubota H (1989) Mean residence time of the shelf water in the East China and Yellow Seas determined by 228Ra/226Ra measurements. Geophys Res Lett 16:1297–1300
Nozaki Y, Tsubota H, Kasemsupaya V et al (1991) Residence times of surface water and particle-reactive 210Pb and 210Po in the East China and Yellow seas. Geochim et Cosmochim Acta 55:1265–1272
Pickard GL, Emery WJ (1990) Descriptive physical oceanography: an introduction, 5th edn. Pergamon Press, New York
Poole R, Tomczak M (1999) Optimum multi-parameter analysis of the water mass structure in the Atlantic Ocean thermocline. Deep Sea Res 46:1895–1921
Pougatch K, Salcudean M, Gartshore I et al (2007) Computational modeling of large aerated lagoon hydraulics. Water Res 41:2109–2116
Rama, Moore WS (1996) Using the radium quartet to estimate water exchange and ground water input in salt marshes. Geochim et Cosmochim Acta 60:4645–4652
Rapaglia J, Ferrarin C, Zaggia L et al (2009) Investigation of residence time and groundwater flux in Venice Lagoon: comparing radium isotope and hydrodynamical models. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.08.010
Sverdrup HU, Johnson MW, Fleming RH (1946) The oceans, their physics, chemistry and general biology. Prentice-Hall, Inc, New York
Swarzenski PW, Izbicki JA (2009) Examining coastal exchange processes within a sandy beach using geochemical tracers, seepage meters and electrical resistivity. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 83:77–89
Takeoka H (1984) Fundamental concepts of exchange and transport time scales in a coastal sea. Cont Shelf Res 3:322–326
Tomczak M (1981) A multi-parameter extension of temperature/salinity diagram techniques for the analysis of non-isopycnal mixing. Prog Oceanogr 10:147–171
Vilibic I, Orlic M (2002) Adriatic water masses, their rates of formation and transport through the Otranto Strait. Deep Sea Res 49:1321–1340
Walsh JJ (1991) Importance of continental margins in the marine biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. Nature 50:53–55
Yang HS, Hwang DW, Kim G (2002) Factors controlling excess radium in the Nakdong River estuary, Korea: submarine groundwater discharge versus desorption from riverine particles. Mar Chem 78:1–8
Zhang J (2002) Biogeochemistry of Chinese estuaries and coastal waters: nutrients, trace metals and biomarkers. Reg Environ Change 3:65–76
Zhang L, Liu Z, Zhang J et al (2007) Reevaluation of mixing among multiple water masses in the shelf: an example from the East China Sea. Cont Shelf Res 27:1969–1979
Zimmerman JTF (1976) Mixing and flushing of tidal embayments in the Western Dutch Wadden Sea, Part I: distribution of salinity and calculation of mixing time scales. Nethl J Sea Res 10:149–191
Acknowledgments
We thank Willard S. Moore of University of South Carolina for his discussions on this topic. PWS thanks the USGS Coastal and Marine Program for continued support. The application example in the East China Sea was supported by Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2006CB400601).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhang, L., Zhang, J., Swarzenski, P.W., Liu, Z. (2012). Radium Isotope Tracers to Evaluate Coastal Ocean Mixing and Residence Times. In: Baskaran, M. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry. Advances in Isotope Geochemistry. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10637-8_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10637-8_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-10636-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-10637-8
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)