COMPARISON OF C-DOT NANOPARTICLE AND IODIDE TRACER BREAKTHROUGH CURVES IN A SHALLOW FRACTURE-DOMINATED AQUIFER

Ionic and C-dot nanoparticle tracer tests were performed in a fracture-dominated sandstone aquifer near Altona, NY. The experiments were conducted in the Potsdam sandstone which is Cambrian in age with very low matrix porosity (<2%). Well separations ranged between 7 and 14 meters and flow rates ranged between 3 and 8 L/min. Transit times between well pairs ranged from 6 minutes to 3 hours. The nanoparticle used is referred to as “C-dot” and it consists of a carbon core (synthesized from citric acid) decorated by ethanolamine. Iodide was used as an additional conservative tracer to compare the conservative nature of the C-dot with that of a tracer frequently used in hydrogeologic studies. The results of 8 tracer tests showed identical breakthrough curves for the C-dot and the ionic tracer. These results suggest that the C-dot used in these studies are inert and will behave conservatively as a groundwater tracer in a natural environment dispersed in low-salinity water.