USGS Science⌕ Search

Geology topics

K. Revesz

Publications and source records attributed to K. Revesz.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2002

Parameter estimation using carbon-14 ages: Lessons from the Danube-Tisza interfluvial region of Hungary

Parameter estimation was conducted on a groundwater model of the Danube-Tisza interfluvial region of Hungary. The model was calibrated using 300 water levels and 48 14C ages. The model provided a test of regression methods for a system with a large number of observations. Up to 103 parameters representing horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivities and boundary conductances were assigned using point values and bilinear interpolation between points. The lowest errors were obtained using an iterative approach with groups of parameters, rather than estimating all of the parameters simultaneously. The model with 48 parameters yielded the lowest standard error of regression.

Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica↗
USGS1997

Determination of δ 18 O and δ 15 N in Nitrate

The analyses of both O and N isotopic compositions of nitrate have many potential applications in studies of nitrate sources and reactions in hydrology, oceanography, and atmospheric chemistry, but simple and precise methods for these analyses have yet to be developed. Testing of a new method involving reaction of potassium nitrate with catalyzed graphite (C + Pd + Au) at 520 °C resulted in quantitative recovery of N and O from nitrate as free CO 2 , K 2 CO 3 , and N 2 . The δ 18 O values of nitrate reference materials were obtained by analyzing both the CO 2 and K 2 CO 3 from catalyzed graphite combustion. Provisional values of δ 18 O VSMOW for the internationally distributed KNO 3 reference materials IAEA-N3 and USGS-32 were both equal to +22.7 ± 0.5‰. Because the fraction of free CO 2 and the isotopic fractionation factor between CO 2 and K 2 CO 3 were constant in the combustion products, the δ 18 O value of KNO 3 could be calculated from measurements of the δ 18 O of free CO 2 . Thus, δ 18 O KNO 3 = a δ 18 O free CO 2 − b , where a and b were equal to 0.9967 and 3.3, respectively, for the specific conditions of the experiments. The catalyzed graphite combustion method can be used to determine δ 18 O of KNO 3 from measurements of δ 18 O of free CO 2 with reproducibility on the order of ±0.2‰ or better if local reference materials are prepared and analyzed with the samples. Reproducibility of δ 15 N was ±0.1‰ after trace amounts of CO were removed.

Analytical Chemistry↗
USGS1997

Groundwater record of halocarbon transport by the Danube River

Groundwater dating studies have supported the concept that aquifers with low coefficients of dispersion may contain coherent records of past conditions in recharge areas. Groundwater records can provide unique information about natural or anthropogenic changes in the atmosphere and hydrosphere where long-term monitoring data are not available. Here we describe a 40-year record of halocarbon contamination in the Danube River that was retrieved from a shallow aquifer in northwest Hungary. The time scale is based on 3H and He isotope dating of groundwaters that were recharged by the Danube River and moved horizontally away from the river in a surficial gravel aquifer with minor dispersion at a maximum rate of at least 500 m/yr. Analyses of dated groundwaters along a flow path indicate that the river loads of selected compounds (including CFC-12, CFC-113, and trichloroethane) were negligible before about 1950, rose rapidly to peak values in the 1960s and 1970s, and then decreased by varying degrees to the present. Peak concentrations are tentatively attributed to point sources in upstream urban-industrial centers; while recent decreases presumably resulted from declining manufacturing rates and(or) improvements in control of urban- industrial runoff and sewage effluent entering the river in upstream areas.

Danube River↗
USGS1997

Stable isotope evidence for an atmospheric origin of desert nitrate deposits in northern Chile and southern California, U.S.A.

Natural surficial accumulations of nitrate-rich salts in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, and in the Death Valley region of the Mojave Desert, southern California, are well known, but despite many geologic and geochemical studies, the origins of the nitrates have remained controversial. N and O isotopes in nitrate, and S isotopes in coexisting soluble sulfate, were measured to determine if some proposed N sources could be supported or rejected, and to determine if the isotopic signature of these natural deposits could be used to distinguish them from various types of anthropogenic nitrate contamination that might be found in desert groundwaters. High-grade calich-a-type nitrate deposits from both localities have δ 15 N values that range from −5 to +5‰, but are mostly near 0‰. Values of δ 15 N near 0‰ are consistent with either bulk atmospheric N deposition or microbial N fixation as major sources of the N in the deposits. δ 18 O values of those desert nitrates with δ 15 N near 0‰ range from about +31 to +50‰ (V-SMOW), significantly higher than that of atmospheric O 2 (+23.5‰). Such high values of δ 18 O are considered unlikely to result entirely from nitrification of reduced N, but rather resemble those of modern atmospheric nitrate in precipitation from some other localities. Assuming that limited modern atmospheric isotope data are applicable to the deposits, and allowing for nitrification of co-deposited ammonium, it is estimated that the fraction of the nitrate in the deposits that could be, accounted for isotopically by atmospheric N deposition may be at least 20% and possibly as much as 100%. δ 34 S values are less diagnostic but could also be consistent with atmospheric components in some of the soluble sulfates associated with the deposits. The stable isotope data support the hypothesis that some high-grade caliche-type nitrate-rich salt deposits in some of the Earth's hyperarid deserts represent long-term accumulations of atmospheric deposition (possibly in the order of 104 yr for the Death Valley region, 10 7 yr for the Atacama Desert) in the relative absence of soil leaching or biologic cycling. The combined N and O isotope signature of the nitrate in these deposits is significantly different from those of many other natural and anthropogenic sources of nitrate.

Chemical Geology↗