Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1080/10256010600839780
Title (Primary) Sulphur and oxygen isotopic characters of dissolved sulphate in groundwater from the Pleistocene aquifer in the southern Jordan Valley (Jericho area, Palestine)
Author Khayat, S.; Hötzl, H.; Geyer, S. ORCID logo ; Ali, W.; Knöller, K.; Strauch, G.
Source Titel Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies
Year 2006
Department HDG
Volume 42
Issue 3
Page From 289
Page To 302
Language englisch
Abstract Sulphate and chloride concentrations in the shallow Pleistocene aquifer systems in the lower Jordan valley area indicate a general trend of increasing salinity eastward and southward. This study was conducted in one of the important sub-basins feeding the Pleo–Pleistocene aquifer in the Jericho area in the southern part of the valley using S and O isotopes of dissolved sulphate. The results show that sulphate has mainly two contributions to the groundwater. One is the surface seepage, which is present as a salty leachate form with the positive δ34Ssulphate values of primary gypsum in Lisan and Samara formations, and the second is the upwelling saline water which was in contact with a deep secondary gypsum, aragonites and salty rocks and rose up under heavy abstraction with depleted 34S in sulphate and relatively high sulphate and chloride content. The latest was clearly shown in the Arab Project wells to the east that is undergoing a continuous heavy abstraction. The isotopic signatures of S and O in these wells to the east show that this depleted 34S and highly concentrated sulphate might also indicate a dissolved sulphate originating from pyrite oxidation that results from the interaction with a pyrite-rich aquifer, which can well up with salty water under heavy abstraction and is oxidised in the upper aerobic shallow aquifer.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=2768
Khayat, S., Hötzl, H., Geyer, S., Ali, W., Knöller, K., Strauch, G. (2006):
Sulphur and oxygen isotopic characters of dissolved sulphate in groundwater from the Pleistocene aquifer in the southern Jordan Valley (Jericho area, Palestine)
Isot. Environ. Health Stud. 42 (3), 289 - 302 10.1080/10256010600839780