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single B-seam value, which was reported at +24 %o, were actually -24 %o, there would very little <br />need to call on high amounts of light cazbon from soil gases or other sources. <br />The light isotopic signature of the seep water might be explained by precipitation of calcite <br />in a closed reservoir, which would preferentially remove heavy carbon and leave the residual <br />water enriched in the light fraction. Such a reaction is compatible with the major element <br />chemistry, cooling of the fluids, and the loss of bicarbonate and carbonate. Computer modeling <br />could confirm whether this is a likely reaction or not, given the available data. <br />The light isotopic signature of the seep water might also be explained by methane oxidation, <br />which would enrich the fluid in methane-derived CO,, which would be isotopically light because <br />the methane is isotopically light. The presence of unusually heavy sulfur isotopes, discussed <br />above, and methane oxidation are compatible with this interpretation. This notion deserves <br />further evaluation. <br />Overall, a change from the relatively heavy sump water (S"C = -~.4 %o) and the isotopically <br />lighter seep water (S"C = -12.9 °,bo) can be accomplished through a vaziety of mechanisms <br />including (a) dilution with meteoric water containing soil gas COz. (b) precipitation of calcite, or <br />(c) methane oxidation. Uncertainty in the B-seam S"C measurement would provide useful <br />insight. The Barren member S"C value, which is itself very light, indicates that local sources of <br />isotopically light groundwater could likely be available, thus diminishing the need to call on <br />more complicated geochemical measures. Given that the Lone Pine seal water is probably not <br />representative of the sump water as a whole, any shifr in cazbon isotope values from the sump to <br />the seep may not require much meteoric water mixing or soil gas C02 to explain the difference in <br />values; rather, the answer may be in the average sump value itself. <br />D. Radioisotope Ages. <br />~'C. Owing to the presence of methane and other cazbon compounds, the cazbon-14 (14C) <br />age information is rather sketchy. What can be said from the data is that the Sump water and the <br />Edwazds Mine portal seep water have a relatively high percent of modem carbon (pmc) whereas <br />the fault waters may have much less. This implies that both have a young atmospheric cazbon <br />component. This is compatible with meteoric water mixing with the fault waters as modem <br />meteoric water would provide the high pmc component necessary to shift the values to high pmc <br />in the seep water. <br />The higher pmc in the sump water implies the sump water has more modem water than the <br />seep water. This implies further that there must be an older water diluting the sump water <br />between the sump and the seep, assuming of course that the sump water is the source of the seep, <br />or that the seep water did not evolve directly from the sump water that was collected. Neither <br />interpretation appears to be favored. <br />'H. The tritium ('H) values for most of the samples, both fault, sump and seep, generally <br />record some component of "post-bomb" water. A few of the fault waters do not. Again, the <br />greater amount of deuterium in the sump requires an explanation similar to that provided for the <br />"C values, namely that [here is either a second source of "old" water between the sump and the <br />seep, or the sump water is not representative of water that possibly recharges the seep. Overall, <br />9 <br />