Inter-comparison exercises on dissolved gases for groundwater dating – (1) Goals of the exercise and site choice,validation of the sampling strategy

Two international inter-comparison exercises devoted to dissolved gases and isotope analyses in groundwater, used as tools for groundwater dating were organized in 2012 in France (IDES – Université Paris Sud – CNRS and OSUR – Université Rennes 1 – CNRS). The goal was to compare sampling and analytical protocols through results obtained by the community of groundwater dating laboratories. The two exercises were: GDAT1 on three supply boreholes in a homogeneous sand-aquifer of Fontainebleau (Paris Basin, France) and GDAT2 on two supply boreholes (shallow and deep) in a fractured rock aquifer in French Brittany. This two-step exercise is the first exercise which included a large number of gases and isotopes usually used in groundwater as dating tools and also permit to discuss the uncertainties related to sampling protocols issuing from each laboratory methods. The two tests allowed 31 laboratories from 14 countries to compare their protocols for both sampling and analyses. This paper presents the participants and parameters measured, and focuses on the validation of the sampling strategy. Two laboratories analyzed CFC and SF₆ samples collected at regular intervals during the sampling operations in order to verify water homogeneity. The results obtained by the two “reference” laboratories along with monitoring of field parameters showed no clear trend of gas concentration or physic-chemical properties. It can be concluded that the pumped groundwater composition remained constant during sampling. This study also shows the potential for relatively constant pumped groundwater composition from a specific well despite the complexity and/or mixing processes that may occur at a larger scale in the aquifer.