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Tracing the Seepage of Subsurface Sinkhole Vent Waters into Lake Huron Using Radium and Stable Isotopes of Oxygen and Hydrogen

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Abstract

Exchange of water between groundwater and surface water could alter water quality of the surface waters and thereby impact its ecosystem. Discharges of anoxic groundwater, with high concentrations of sulfate and chloride and low concentrations of nitrate and oxygen, from three sinkhole vents (El Cajon, Middle Island and Isolated) in Lake Huron have been recently documented. In this investigation, we collected and analyzed a suite of water samples from these three sinkhole vents and lake water samples from Lake Huron for Ra, radon-222, stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen, and other ancillary parameters. These measurements are among the first of their kind in this unique environment. The activities of Ra are found to be one to two orders of magnitude higher than that of the lake water. Isotopic signatures of some of the bottom lake water samples indicate evidences for micro-seeps at distances farther from these three vents. A plot of δD versus δ18O indicates that there are deviations from the Global Meteoric Line that can be attributed to mixing of different water masses and/or due to some subsurface chemical reactions. Using the Ra isotopic ratios, we estimated the transit times of the vent waters from the bottom to the top of the vent (i.e., sediment–water interface) to be 4–37 days. More systematic studies on the distribution of the radioactive and stable isotope studies are needed to evaluate the prevalence of micro-seeps in Lake Huron and other Great Lakes system.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the support for dive operations by Russ Green, Jeff Gray, Tane Casserley, Wayne Lusardi, and Joe Hoyt of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. We thank Dennis Donahue, Steve Bawks, Beau Braymer, Mike Taetsch, Tom Joyce, Andrew Yagiela, Jack Workman, and Rob Paddock for vessel and ROV operations, Scott Kendall for some chemical analysis and Cathy Darnell (NOAA-Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory) for help in preparing a figure. This work was supported by the NOAA Ocean Exploration Program (subcontract to Wayne State University via CILER), the NOAA National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, NOAA-GLERL and Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research (CILER). This is GLERL contribution #1805. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their thorough and thoughtful reviews which helped to improve this manuscript. The first author acknowledges the long-term scientific collaboration and friendship with Tom Church to whom this special volume is dedicated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    M. Baskaran, T. Novell & K. Nash

  2. Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, NOAA, Ann Arbor, MI, 48108-9719, USA

    S. A. Ruberg & N. Hawley

  3. Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosytem Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1041, USA

    T. Johengen

  4. Great Lakes WATER Institute, School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, 53204, USA

    J. V. Klump

  5. Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA

    B. A. Biddanda

Authors
  1. M. Baskaran
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  2. T. Novell
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  3. K. Nash
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  4. S. A. Ruberg
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  5. T. Johengen
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  6. N. Hawley
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  7. J. V. Klump
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  8. B. A. Biddanda
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Correspondence to M. Baskaran.

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Baskaran, M., Novell, T., Nash, K. et al. Tracing the Seepage of Subsurface Sinkhole Vent Waters into Lake Huron Using Radium and Stable Isotopes of Oxygen and Hydrogen. Aquat Geochem 22, 349–374 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-015-9286-7

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