Deep Oxygenated Ground Water: Anomaly or Common Occurrence?

Abstract

Contrary to the prevailing notion that oxygen-depleting reactions in the soil zone and in the aquifer rapidly reduce the dissolved oxygen content of recharge water to detection limits, 2 to 8 milligrams per liter of dissolved oxygen is present in water from a variety of deep (100 to 1000 meters) aquifers in Nevada, Arizona, and the hot springs of the folded Appalachians and Arkansas. Most of the waters sampled are several thousand to more than 10,000 years old, and some are 80 kilometers from their point of recharge.