I think Supriya mean “residence time” (age). That is to say the time during which a water molecule remains in an environment before moving to a new stage of the water cycle. I am not aware that the silica (SiO2) is an element which measures the residence time of groundwater. I have not seen this in any document.
There are two types of tools for estimating the residence time of groundwater: hydrodynamic modeling and chemical and isotopic tracers.
The chemical and isotopic tracers are many and varied. The choice of tracer must be adapted to water traffic conditions in the studied aquifer systems. These tools are used for very old waters (14C or 36Cl) or more current, between 50 years and today (CFC, SF6, tritium, 3H / 3He).
Regards
Prof. Bachir ACHOUR
I agree with Prof. Bachir. Only way you can do is by adopting Carbon dating technique.
Silica (SiO2) is generally found in small amounts from 1 ppm to 30 ppm, mostly dissolved from practically all rocks and soils, . Higher concentrations generally occur in highly alkaline water. Silicas form a hard scale in pipes and boilers. Carried over in steam of high-pressure boilers, silicas form damaging deposits on the delicately balanced blades of steam turbines. Silica also inhibits the deterioration of zeolite-type water softeners, but does not affect water for domestic purposes. Groundwater generally contains more silica than surface water. However no much information available that Silica is used as a tool for the measurement of the residence time or age of ground water. I think Carbon 14 or isotopic tracers are the better tools for the same.
Degradation of Silica is a criteria used in hydrogeological chronology for groundwater, as Silica is hard enough to be disintegrated. There is scaling used to characterize this degradation.
(Rusian) Содержание Silica не связано с возрастом воды. Повышенное содержание Silica может быть связано с проникновением агрессивных очень пресных вод в слои, содержащие аморфный Silica. Горные породы с аморфным Silica образуются в морских условиях - в неглубоких морях. Например в палеогене.
Silica means Quartz and Amorphous. Its solubility is very low in water. present in ground water in SiO2 form. Usually very low concentration in surface/ groundwater as very correctly pointed out by Dr. Sudhir. Ground water dating by Silica is confusing term. It should be residence time / Reservoir / Aquifer etc. However, SiO2 in ground water is one of the best indicator/ geothermometer for the determination of aquifer/ reservoir temperature of hot springs and other hydrothermal systems.
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