Identification of palaeowaters by means of environmental isotope correlation

It can generally be assumed that carbonate rocks do not contain any radiocarbon because of their long genesis. Deep groundwater therefore contains only that quantity which originates from the time of infiltration and which has not decayed up to the present. As a consequence, this content can never reach the level of biogenic CO2 in the soil. Most discussions thus derive from the issue of how to indicate the initial concentration of 14C in the infiltration area as an expression of recent radiocarbon in soil CO2, together with 14C free carbonate rock. 3 refs, 1 fig