USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)
Modeling the Transport of Radium Isotopes Offshore Tampa Bay Through Submarine Groundwater Discharge
First Advisor
James Krest, Ph.D. College of Arts and Science
Publisher
University of South Florida St. Petersburg
Document Type
Thesis
Date Available
March 2012
Publication Date
2010
Date Issued
April 2010
Abstract
Radium isotopes have been used in years past to observe and understand coastal mixing processes and submarine groundwater discharge. There are four radium isotopes used as natural tracers: Ra-224, Ra-223, Ra-226, and Ra-228, with half lives ranging in length from a few days to over a thousand years, which makes them applicable tracers of process of a variety of lengths of time. In this project, I simulated the flow of these isotopes through submarine groundwater discharge into coastal and offshore waters. I constructed a model of the study area, using a computer program called Visual MODFLOW, which uses finite difference methods to model groundwater flow. I then ran the model, and determined the results of the model support the excess radium activity seen offshore, as attributed to submarine groundwater discharge.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Lecher, Alanna, "Modeling the Transport of Radium Isotopes Offshore Tampa Bay Through Submarine Groundwater Discharge" (2010). USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate).
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/honorstheses/7
Comments
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Honors Program, University of South Florida St. Petersburg.