Stable Calcium Isotopic Variability in Groundwater from Coastal Aquifers
from the Sundarbans Delta, India
Abstract
Coastal aquifers act as a major host of seawater-groundwater interaction
and play an important role in modulating the marine elemental budget.
Calcium stable isotopes (δ44/40Ca) have been used to
identify mass dependent isotope fractionation processes such as
carbonate dissolution and precipitation in a range of geological
reservoirs that has major implications in constraining global
geochemical cycles. However, there is limited Ca isotope data from
coastal aquifers globally. Here we report δ44/40Ca
values of groundwater collected in 2017-18 from multiple locations and
depths from the Bakkhali delta front, Sundarbans, India. The sampling
depth varied between 14 m below ground level (m bgl) and 333 m bgl and
the salinity of the groundwater samples range from 1-25 ppt. The
salinity of the water samples decreases with increasing depth indicating
greater seawater incursion from the Bay of Bengal at shallower depths.
Variable amounts of mixing of freshwater and seawater is also supported
by Sr and Ca concentrations which vary between 1.6-62.8 μmol/l and
0.29-8.92 mmol/l, respectively, and show progressively lower
concentrations with depth. The δ44/40Ca values of
dissolved phase in groundwater samples (relative to NIST SRM 915a) were
measured using a 43Ca-48Ca Double
Spike TIMS technique at Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute
Science, Bangalore. The δ44/40Ca values of the
groundwater samples show significant variability between 1.52-2.28‰ (2SD
~0.1‰) with several samples showing
δ44/40Ca values higher than modern seawater
(~1.88‰). Low δ44/40Ca values, mostly
in deeper groundwater samples, is consistent with higher proportions of
freshwater input. Samples showing high δ44/40Ca values
are mostly from shallower depths and likely reflect carbonate
precipitation which is consistent with high Sr/Ca
(~8.13-12.26) in samples from 30-42 m depth. The high
δ44/40Ca in groundwater samples from the
Ganges-Brahmaputra delta could explain the high
δ44/40Ca values reported in water samples from the Bay
of Bengal1. [1] Chakrabarti et al., Goldschmidt
Boston, 2018 Abstract.