@article {53927,
	title = {The contribution of groundwater discharge to the overall water budget of two typical boreal lakes in Alberta/Canada estimated from a radon mass balance},
	volume = {14},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {10 pages },
	publisher = {Hydrology and Earth Systems Sciences },
	abstract = {Radon-222, a naturally-occurring radioisotope with a half-life of 3.8 days, was used to estimate ground- water discharge to small lakes in wetland-dominated basins in the vicinity of Fort McMurray, Canada. This region is un- der significant water development pressure including both oil sands mining and in situ extraction. Field investigations were carried out in March and July 2008 to measure radon-222 distributions in the water column of two lakes as a tracer of groundwater discharge. Radon concentrations in these lakes ranged from 0.5 to 72Bq/m3, while radon concentrations in groundwaters ranged between 2000 and 8000 Bq/m3 . A radon mass balance, used in comparison with stable isotope mass balance, suggested that the two lakes under investigation had quite different proportions of annual groundwater inflow (from 0.5\% to about 14\% of the total annual water inflow). Lower discharge rates were attributed to a larger drainage area/lake area ratio which promotes greater surface connectivity. Interannual variability in groundwater proportions is expected despite an implied seasonal constancy in groundwater discharge rates. Our results demonstrate that a combination of stable isotope and radon mass balance approaches provides information on flowpath partitioning that is useful for evaluating surface-groundwater connectivity and acid sensitivity of individual water bodies of interest in the Alberta Oil Sands Region.},
	keywords = {Alberta Innovates, analytical methodology, AOSTRA, ARC, groundwater, hydrogeology, lake, survey},
	url = {http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/14/79/2010/hess-14-79-2010.pdf},
	author = {Schmidt, A. and Gibson, J. J. and Santos, I. R. and Shubert, M. and Tattrie, K. and Weiss, H.}
}
