title: Ground water input to coastal salt ponds of southern Rhode Island estimated using 226Ra as a tracer.
abstract: The naturally occurring radionuclide 226Ra (t1/2 = 1600 years) was used as a tracer to determine ground water input to Point Judith, Potter, Green Hill and Ninigret ponds in southern Rhode Island. Measurements of 226Ra activity were made in samples collected from salt ponds, pore waters, sediments, and local ground water wells during June-August, 1997. These results were combined with a simple box model to derive ground water input fluxes of 0.1-0.3 cm3 cm-2 d-1 (2-5 x 10(7) L d-1), which are comparable to previous estimates of ground water input to these ponds.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA.
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D011883:Radium; D012237:Rhode Island; D012623:Seawater
chemical_list: D011883:Radium