Sources of radiogenic helium in a clay till aquitard and its use to evaluate the timing of geologic events

Concentrations of dissolved gases (He, Ne, Ar and N₂) were measured in pore waters collected from a Pleistocene (0-80 m depth) and Cretaceous (80-156 m depth) aged, clay-rich, aquitard system using both a conventional copper-tube method and in situ diffusion samplers. Both methods yielded similar results. He data revealed a well-defined increase in concentration with depth, from 1.7 × 10⁻⁸ cm³ He STP g⁻¹ water near the water table (at 2.3 m below ground surface) to 6.9 × 10⁻⁶ cm³ He STP g⁻¹ water at ∼80 m below ground surface (B.G.) The concentration at depth greatly exceeded values for atmospheric solubility at in situ temperatures and could not be attributed to steady-state production from α-decay of U and Th within the aquitard system. Trends in He isotope ratios and concentrations suggest accumulation as a result of both release of residual ⁴He from within the Pleistocene clay-rich till (ca. 87%) and an ascending radiogenic helium flux from underlying Cretaceous-age sediments (ca. 13%). One-dimensional transport modeling of the He data suggests that between 15 ka and 25 ka were required to produce the observed profile. This time frame agrees with studies utilizing isotope tracers (i.e., D/H and ¹⁴C-DIC) to estimate the timing of deposition for the till at this site. Our results demonstrate the utility of using helium, a nonreactive tracer, for delineating hydrogeologic processes in slow permeability geologic strata, and also support the contention that thick clay-rich surficial aquitards can provide long-term containment of contaminants, including hazardous wastes.