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Isotopes In Groundwater Pollution Essay

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1. INTRODUCTION
Two of the fundamental things that we need to be acquainted with about groundwater are where does it came from, and the period it has been underground. The most communal way of determining its origin and residence time below the surface is by using natural and man-made tracers. These tracers are substances which accompany the water molecule from the upper atmosphere through the deepest aquifers.
Groundwater tracers include dissolved gases and isotopes of atoms associated with water. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of water are widely used as tracers to understand hydro geological processes such as precipitation, groundwater recharge, groundwater-surface water interactions, and groundwater pollution. Stable isotopes are conservative in nature, once they enter groundwater they aren’t modified by natural processes such as reduction or oxidation. This makes them ideal tracers to identify and track the source of groundwater recharge or its …show more content…

ROLE OF STABLE ISOTOPES IN GROUNDWATER POLLUTION
Isotopes in groundwater hydrology give a direct insight into the movement and distribution processes within the aquifer. Groundwater in its natural state contains environmental isotopes and conclusions may be drawn from their abundance variations. The following are some of the role that stable isotope play in the study of groundwater pollution.
2.1. Isotopes used for nitrate source distribution
Nitrogen pollution in groundwater is an important environmental problem in shallow aquifers in many countries and is increasingly becoming a threat to drinking water supplies. Potential non-point sources of nitrate contaminated groundwater include soil nitrogen, fertilizer, and animal waste. Beneath agricultural lands, nitrate is the primary form of nitrogen. It is soluble in water and can easily pass through soil to the groundwater table. Nitrate can persist in ground water for decades and accumulate to high levels as more nitrogen is applied to the land surface every

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