Residence times and age distributions of spring waters at the Semmering catchment area, Eastern Austria, as inferred from tritium, CFCs and stable isotopes

The groundwater system in the mountainous area of Semmering, Austria, was studied by environmental tracers in several karst springs. The tracers used included stable isotopes ( O-18, H-2), tritium (H-3) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). The tracers provided valuable information in regard to ( 1) the mean altitude of the spring catchment areas; ( 2) the residence time and age distribution of the spring waters; and ( 3) the interconnection of the springs to a sinkhole. The combination of the stable isotopic data and the topography/ geology provided the estimates of the mean altitudes of the catchment areas. Based on the stable isotopic data the recharge temperature of the spring waters was estimated. The smoothing of precipitation's isotopic signal in spring discharge provided information on the minimum transit time of the spring waters. Due to short observation time, 3H data alone cannot be used for describing the mean residence time of the karst waters. CFCs, though useful in recognizing the co-existence of young (post-1993) water with old (CFC-free) water, could not be used to resolve age distribution models. It is shown in this article, however, that the combined use of tritium and CFCs can provide a better assessment of models to account for different groundwater age distributions. In Appendix A, a simplified method for collecting groundwater samples for the analysis of CFCs is described. The method provides a real facilitation for fieldwork. Test data are given for this sampling method in regard to potential contamination by atmospheric CFCs.