Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 23 October 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5389, pp. 731 - 734
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5389.731
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Climate and Groundwater Recharge During the Last Glaciation in an Ice-Covered Region

Urs Beyerle, * Roland Purtschert, Werner Aeschbach-Hertig, Dieter M. Imboden, Heinz H. Loosli, Rainer Wieler, Rolf Kipfer

A multitracer study of a small aquifer in northern Switzerland indicates that the atmosphere in central Europe cooled by at least 5°C during the last glacial period. The relation between oxygen isotope ratios (delta 18O) and recharge temperatures reconstructed for this period is similar to the present-day one if a shift in the delta 18O value of the oceans during the ice age is taken into account. This similarity suggests that the present-day delta 18O-temperature relation can be used to reconstruct paleoclimate conditions in northern Switzerland. A gap in calculated groundwater age between about 17,000 and 25,000 years before the present indicates that during the last glacial maximum, local groundwater recharge was prevented by overlying glaciers.

U. Beyerle, W. Aeschbach-Hertig, D. M. Imboden, R. Kipfer, Department of Environmental Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland. R. Purtschert and H. H Loosli, Physics Institute, University of Berne, 3012 Berne, Switzerland. R. Wieler, Isotope Geology, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, NO C61, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: beyerle{at}eawag.ch

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Groundwater and climate dynamics derived from noble gas, 14C, and stable isotope data.
S. Klump, T. Grundl, R. Purtschert, and R. Kipfer (2008)
Geology 36, 395-398
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Analysis of modern and Pleistocene hydrologic exchange between Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) and the Saginaw Lowlands area.
J. R. Hoaglund III, J. J. Kolak, D. T. Long, and G. J. Larson (2004)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, 3-15
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Flow and Storage in Groundwater Systems.
W. M. Alley, R. W. Healy, J. W. LaBaugh, and T. E. Reilly (2002)
Science 296, 1985-1990
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Noble Gases in Lakes and Ground Waters.
R. Kipfer, W. Aeschbach-Hertig, F. Peeters, and M. Stute (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 47, 615-700
   Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeowaters from the Glatt Valley, Switzerland.
R. Purtschert, U. Beyerle, W. Aeschbach-Hertig, R. Kipfer, and H. H. Loosli (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 189, 155-162
   Abstract »    PDF »
Isotopic methods and their hydrogeochemical context in the investigation of palaeowaters.
H. H. Loosli, W. Aeschbach-Hertig, F. Barbecot, P. Blaser, W. G. Darling, L. Dever, W. M. Edmunds, R. Kipfer, R. Purtschert, and K. Walraevens (2001)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 189, 193-212
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)