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Environmental isotopes and hydrogeological data have been used for the construction of a conceptual model of fresh groundwater flow in the Klodzko Basin, Sudetes, Poland. The model has allowed the verification of a groundwater circulation scheme resulting from the general morphological assumptions and the recharge role to the surrounding mountains. Combined interpretation of the tritium ages and the isotopic altitude effect allowed determining the volume of water-bearing rock Vr and hydrogeological parameters of systems drained by springs and wells. Prior to the final determination of the recharge zone of individual objects, calculations were made for the thickness of the flow zone (h) and the distance from the recharge zone to the drainage point (L). The recharge areas for springs are located within a distance of 1–1.5 km and are characterized by a width of 0.75–1.65 km. The recharge area of wells is located in significantly longer distances of 2.1–12 km but yet definitely lower width. The rechar...

Lumped-parameter models are commonly applied for determining the age of water from time records of transient environmental tracers. The simplest models (e.g. piston flow or exponential) are also applicable for dating based on the decay or accumulation of tracers in groundwater systems. The models are based on the assumption that the transit time distribution function (exit age distribution function) of the tracer particles in the investigated system adequately represents the distribution of flow lines and is described by a simple function. A chosen or fitted function (called the response function) describes the transit time distribution of a tracer which would be observed at the output (discharge area, spring, stream, or pumping wells) in the case of an instantaneous injection at the entrance (recharge area). Due to large space and time scales, response functions are not measurable in groundwater systems, therefore, functions known from other fields of science, mainly from chemical engineering, are usually used. The type of response function and the values of its parameters define the lumped-parameter model of a system. The main parameter is the mean transit time of tracer through the system, which under favourable conditions may represent the mean age of mobile water. The parameters of the model are found by fitting calculated concentrations to the experimental records of concentrations measured at the outlet. The mean transit time of tracer (often called the tracer age), whether equal to the mean age of water or not, serves in adequate combinations with other data for determining other useful parameters, e.g. the recharge rate or the content of water in the system. The transit time distribution and its mean value serve for confirmation or determination of the conceptual model of the system and/or estimation of its potential vulnerability to anthropogenic pollution. In the interpretation of environmental tracer data with the aid of the lumped-parameter models, the influence of diffusion exchange between mobile water and stagnant or quasi-stagnant water is seldom considered, though it leads to large differences between tracer and water ages. Therefore, the article is focused on the transit time distribution functions of the most common lumped-parameter models, particularly those applicable for the interpretation of environmental tracer data in double-porosity aquifers, or aquifers in which aquitard diffusion may play an important role. A case study is recalled for a confined aquifer in which the diffusion exchange with aquitard most probably strongly influenced the transport of environmental tracers. Another case study presented is related to the interpretation of environmental tracer data obtained from lysimeters installed in the unsaturated zone with a fraction of stagnant water.

Triassic carbonate aquifers in the Upper Silesia region, affected by intense withdrawal, have been investigated by means of isotopic analyses of (14)C, δ(13)C, δ(2)H, δ(18)O and (3)H. The isotopic examinations were carried out in the 1970s and in the early 1980s, and it was the first application of tracers to estimate age and vulnerability for the contamination of groundwater in this region. Similar isotopic analyses were conducted in 2007 and 2008 with the same Triassic carbonate formation. The isotopic examinations were performed within the confined part of the carbonate formation, wherein aquifers are covered by semi-permeable deposits. The direct recharge of the aquifer occurs in the outcrop areas, but it mainly takes place due to percolation of the water through aquitards and erosional windows. The Triassic aquifer has been intensively drained by wells and by lead-zinc mines. Nowadays, the declining water demand and closure of some mines have induced a significant increase in the water table level. The detailed analysis of the results, including the radiocarbon age corrections and the comparison of radioisotope activities, has made it possible to estimate the range of residence time within the carbonate Triassic aquifer. This range from several tens to several tens of thousands indicates that the recharge of aquifers might have occurred between modern times and the Pleistocene. The apparent age of the water estimated on the basis of (14)C activity was corrected considering the carbon isotope exchange and the diffusion between mobile water in fractures and stagnant water in micropores. The obtained corrected period of recharge corresponds to the result of investigations of noble gases, which were carried out in the 1990s. In almost half of the cases, groundwater is a mixture of young and old water. The mixing processes occur mainly in areas of heavy exploitation of the aquifer.