M. Ahmad et al., Origin and subsurface history of geothermal water of Murtazabad area, Pakistan - an isotopic evidence, APPL RAD IS, 55(5), 2001, pp. 731-736
The Murtazabad area represents one of the major geothermal fields in Pakist
an, with seven hot springs lying along the Main Karakoram Thrust. Discharge
of the springs is 50-12001 per minute with the surface temperature from 40
to 94 degreesC. Environmental isotopes and chemical concentrations have be
en used to investigate the origin and subsurface history of thermal water.
Four sets of water samples were collected and analyzed for various isotopes
including O-18, H-2 and H-3 of water; S-34 and O-18 of dissolved sulphates
and chemical contents. Isotopic and chemical data show that the origin of
thermal water is meteoric water. On the delta -diagram, delta O-18 and delt
a H-2 data plotting below the local meteoric water line with a slope around
12.3 show that the original thermal water receives recharge from precipita
tion at higher altitude (3000m) and undergoes delta O-18 shift of about 1%
due to exchange with rocks. Different correlations between isotopes, temper
ature and Cl indicate that the observed isotopic compositions have evolved
due to mixing of different proportions of shallow water at different spring
paths during movement of thermal water towards the surface. It is also inf
erred from the tritium data along with delta O-18 and delta H-2 that the ci
rculation time is long and is estimated to be more than 50 years. (C) 2001
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