Robert C. Roback Travis L. McLing Thomas D. Bullen Donald J. DePaolo Christine Doughty Randall J. Hunt Robert W. Smith L. DeWayne Cecil Michael T. Murrell Thomas M. Johnson 2000 <p><span>Preferential flow paths are expected in many groundwater systems and must be located because they can greatly affect contaminant transport. The fundamental characteristics of radiogenic isotope ratios in chemically evolving waters make them highly effective as preferential flow path indicators. These ratios tend to be more easily interpreted than solute-concentration data because their response to water-rock interaction is less complex. We demonstrate this approach with groundwater </span>⁸⁷<span>Sr/</span>⁸⁶<span>Sr ratios in the Snake River Plain aquifer within and near the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. These data reveal slow-flow zones as lower </span>⁸⁷<span>Sr/</span>⁸⁶<span>Sr areas created by prolonged interaction with the host basalts and a relatively fast flowing zone as a high </span>⁸⁷<span>Sr/</span>⁸⁶<span>Sr area.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<871:GFPITS>2.0.CO;2 en Geological Society of America Groundwater “fast paths” in the Snake River Plain aquifer: Radiogenic isotope ratios as natural groundwater tracers article