PRODUCTION AND TESTING OF GROUNDWATER TRACING PARTICLES FOR MANAGED AQUIFER RECHARGE

Tracer tests are a primary method that water resource managers use to characterize both surface and groundwater systems. Traditionally, tracers include materials such as fluorescent dye, salts, isotopes, and various colloids. However, particle tracers can provide additional information in groundwater systems, provided they have suitable properties for grain size and toxicity. The goal of the present study is to produce a sand-sized groundwater tracer particle (GTP) which is customizable and non-toxic. These GTP are intended to be utilized in the field to investigate fractured and karstic groundwater connections. The GTP are non-conservative, non-toxic, sand-sized (~1mm) particle tracers intended to survive long enough to be detected in natural systems. The particles’ properties of color/fluorescence, density, and special properties, such as magnetism, can be altered to better suit the desired study area. A set of laboratory tracer tests are used to characterize the transport properties of the GTP. Using an ASTM standard constant head permeameter, GTP transport was compared to that of a solute tracer and a silica sand tracer. The breakthrough time and mass recovery rate of the tracers were compared. The goal of this research is to use the GTP to conduct a field tracer test at the City of Ada Managed Aquifer Recharge Research Site that is in the karstic Arbuckle-Simpson aquifer in south-central Oklahoma.