Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The aquifer system of the western side of the Dead Sea is investigated on groundwater recharge, groundwater flow velocities and potential mixtures. The two main limestone aquifers are of Cretaceous age, exposed in the recharge area and show karst characteristics with high transmissivities and flow velocities. Discharge is into springs in the Lower Jordan Valley and Dead Sea region. We use a multi-environmental tracer approach, combining anthropogenic bomb-derived ³⁶Cl/Cl, Tritium and the anthropogenic gases SF₆, CFC-12 and CFC-11, CFC-113 to cover the recharge period from the 1950s to recent and to estimate components in the aquifer system that were recharged less than about 70 years ago. By application of lumped parameter models, we derived residence times in the unsaturated zone, tested several age distributions and verified young groundwater components from the last 10 to 30 years. The data can only be explained assuming also an admixture of an old groundwater component, older than about 70 years, which cannot be further quantified with our tracer data.