TRITIUM IN NATURAL WATER OF THE LENA RIVER BASIN
L.S. Lebedeva1, V.V. Shamov2, V.V. Goryachev3, N.A. Pavlova1
1Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia
2Pacific Institute of Geography, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia
3V.I. Il’ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia
Keywords: interaction of surface and ground water, Lena river basin, permafrost, tritium, water chemical composition
Abstract
This study aims at the description of the long-term dynamics of tritium content in atmospheric precipitation and in surface and ground water of the Lena river basin, based on new data obtained received in 2019 and 2020, and on historical information. The relationship of tritium content with the concentration of dissolved chemicals was analyzed. In 2019 and 2020, during the periods of winter and summer low water, 44 water samples were taken from the Lena river, its large, medium and small nonfreezing tributaries, interpermafrost and subpermafrost groundwater, snow cover and liquid precipitation. Data on tritium concentrations in the upper and middle Lena river and its tributaries are reported for the first time. Tritium content in samples from river water, snow cover and rain is consistent with the long-term tritium decline curve. The tritium concentration in river waters during the winter low-water period is lower than in the summer period, when tritium content in the rivers approaches its values in atmospheric precipitation, which is evidence of the contribution of groundwater to the alimentation of the rivers river feeding, in spite of the widespread occurrence of permafrost in the region. Statistically significant correlations between tritium content and redox potential, the content of bicarbonate ions, lithium and sodium ions, total dissolved solids and pH were found.
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