Use of tritium for estimation of groundwater mean residence time, a case study of the Ain Al-Samak Karst springs (Central Syria)

This work is an attempt to estimate the mean residence time of groundwater in the Ain Al-Tanour and Ain-Samak, which are the major karst springs in the Upper Orontes Basin (Central Syria). This estimate, which consists on the application of a mathematical modeling approach, was based on the use of tritium, as a natural radioisotope tracer and a tool for ground water age dating. By adopting a completely mixed reservoir model, linked with exponential time distribution function, the mean residence time (turnover time) of these two springs was evaluated to be about 50 years. This result is in good agreement with previous estimation obtained for the Figeh main spring, which belongs to the same aquifer (Cenomanian-Turonian complex) in the Damascus Basin. On the basis of this evaluation, a value of about 800 million m3 was obtained for the maximum groundwater reservoir size