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A survey of helium in ground water in parts of Sabarmati basin in Gujarat

state and in the Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan / Etude d'hélium dans les eaux
souterraines dans quelques parties du bassin de Sabarmati dans l'état du
Gujarat et dans la région Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
P. S. Dattaa; S. K. Guptaa; A. Jayasuryaa; V. N. Nijampurkara; P. Sharmaa; M. I. Plusninb
a
Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India b Moscow Geological Prospecting Institute (MGRI),
Moscow, USSR

Online publication date: 25 December 2009

To cite this Article Datta, P. S. , Gupta, S. K. , Jayasurya, A. , Nijampurkar, V. N. , Sharma, P. and Plusnin, M. I.(1980) 'A
survey of helium in ground water in parts of Sabarmati basin in Gujarat state and in the Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan /
Etude d'hélium dans les eaux souterraines dans quelques parties du bassin de Sabarmati dans l'état du Gujarat et dans la
région Jaisalmer, Rajasthan', Hydrological Sciences Journal, 25: 2, 183 — 193
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 Hycirological Sciences Bulletin des Sciences Hydrologiques, 25, 2, 6 1980

A survey of helium in groundwater

in parts of Sabarmati basin
in Gujarat state and in the
Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan

P. S. D A T T A , S. K. G U P T A , A. J A Y A S U R Y A , V. N .
N I J A M P U R K A R , P. S H A R M A Physical Research Laboratory.
Navrangpura. Ahmedabad 380009, India
M . I. P L U S N 1 N Moscow Geological Prospecting
Institute (MGR1). Moscow K-9. USSR

Received 16 April 1979

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Abstract. The helium concentrations have been measured in the groundwaters of the Sabarmati basin.
Gujarat, and the Jaisalmer district. Rajasthan. The observed helium concentrations show localized
anomalies. The magnitude of the excess helium is shown to be approximately inversely proportional to
the square of the thickness of the sedimentary strata between the sampled aquifer and the Basement Trap
surface in the Sabarmati basin.

Etude d'hélium dans les eaux souterraines dans quelques parties du bassin de Sabarmati dans l'état du
Gujarat et dans la région Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

Résumé. On a mesuré les concentrations en hélium dans les eaux souterraines du basin de Sabarmati.
Gujarat, et la région de Jaisalmer. Rajasthan. Les concentrations en hélium montrent des anomalies
localisées. On montre que la magnitude de l'excès d'hélium est approximativement inversement propor-
tionnelle au carré de l'épaisseur des couches sédimentaires entre l'aquifère d'échantillon et la superficie de
captage de base ('Basement Trap') dans le bassin de Sabarmati.

INTRODUCTION

The use of accumulation products of radioactive decay for dating groundwater has
a distinct advantage over several other dating methods, in that their abundance
becomes greater with age. The noble gases are particularly useful for this purpose in
that they are non-reactive with earth materials; 4He is the most promising. However,
very little work has been reported on 4He dating of groundwater in the literature.
Some work, however, has been reported by Russian workers, which indicates that
high helium bearing areas are in general related to geothermal and geochemical
anomalies and have little connection with the radioactive decay of U and Th in the
aquifer formations (Eremeev et al., 1972). In view of our interest in the dating of
groundwater, we attempted some measurements of helium concentration in water
to see what kind of information can be obtained from a groundwater helium survey.

0303-6936/80/0600-0183S02.00 © 1980 Blackwell Scientific Publications 183

 184 P. S. Datta et al.
Two areas, the Sabarmati basin in Gujarat (Fig. 1) and the Jaisalmer district in
Rajasthan (Fig. 2) were chosen because some radioactive dating of groundwaters
using 32Si and l4C has already been performed in these areas (Groundwater Cell,
PRL, 1977; Borole et al., 1978; Bhattacharya et ai, 1979).

SAMPLE COLLECTION AND STORAGE

From each well two 220 ml samples were collected in glass bottles. For freely
discharging tubewells, the bottles were filled directly using thick PVC tubing, one
end of which was inserted into the tubewell discharge pipe and the other into the
collecting bottle nearly reaching its bottom. This procedure ensured smooth filling,
thus minimizing the possibility of exchange of the dissolved air in the water with the
atmosphere. For open wells, a special bottle (volume approximately 800 ml) was
lowered upside down to the bottom of the water column. The bottle was then tilted
slowly with the help of a nylon rope. This ensured the filling of the bottle from the
lowermost part of the water column. The bottle was pulled up slowly into an upright
position and the water sample was transferred into the collecting bottles in a manner
similar to filling directly from tubewells.
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Sample bottles were then sealed with tight fitting rubber corks. To remove air
bubbles during the sealing, a thin nylon thread was inserted into the mouth of the
bottle, dipping about 1 cm into the water, and was pulled out slowly while the cork
was pushed in. The bottles were then labelled and stored upside down in a wooden
crate in a cool room (temperature ~20°C). Samples were analysed within 10-15
days of collection, ensuring minimum loss of dissolved helium ( < 10 per cent)
(Levina et ai, 1975). In order to estimate the extent of the helium loss from the
samples, a sample which showed the highest helium concentration (Table 1, sample
20, 1.4 x 10~2 ml/1) was measured again 71 days after the first analysis. The helium
concentration in this sample had reduced to 9 x 10~3 ml/1. Assuming the loss to be a
first order rate process, the maximum loss during a storage period of 15 days is
estimated to be less than 10 per cent.

MEASURING DEVICE FOR H E L I U M ANALYSIS

Direct analysis of the helium content of the samples was made using a special ion
pump. This ion pump called the 'Helium analyser' (Model INGEM-1) is, in fact, a
magnetic discharge pump provided with a diffusion cell membrane made of quartz
glass (Levina et ai, 1975).
Briefly, the pumping mechanism of a magnetic discharge pump is based on the
absorption of gases by a titanium film sputtered by the titanium cathode of the
pump in a high voltage electric discharge in the field of a permanent magnet. If
the quartz membrane ( ~ 5 fim thick) of the transducer is in contact with a medium
containing insufficient helium, practically no gas enters the interior of the device
through the membrane. As a result of the highly effective pumping of the magnetic
discharge pump, this results in a very low ( < 10~9 torr) residual pressure in the
interior of the vacuum sealed transducer. The low residual pressure corresponds to a
low background discharge current of the transducer. However, when the exterior
 Survey of helium in groundwater 185
inlet chamber of the device is filled with gas or water with an increased helium
content, the latter diffuses through the quartz membrane into the interior volume of
the device and leads to an increase in pressure and a subsequent increase in the
discharge current of the transducer, A/, which is directly proportional to the
increase in the partial pressure of the helium in the space enclosed by the external
surface of the quartz membrane.
M=KAP
The coefficient K denotes the sensitivity of the transducer to the partial pressure of
helium. During analysis the instrument is calibrated with the help of gas standards.
The analytical sensitivity for helium dissolved in water is 5 x 10^5 ml/1. The repro-
ducibility of determinations of low concentrations of helium ( < 5 x 10~4 ml/1) is 20
per cent, and of higher concentrations ( > 5 x 10~4 ml/1), 5 per cent.
For further details regarding the instrument, see Eremeev et al. (1972) and Levina
et al. (1975).

R E S U L T S AND DISCUSSION
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Locations of wells, tubewells and the measured helium content of water are given in
Table 1. Helium data for a part of the Sabarmati basin (Gujarat) are plotted in Fig. 1
1 and those for the Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, in Fig. 2. It can be seen that the
helium concentration in groundwater from the regions investigated varies by more
than three orders of magnitude: the highest value being 1.4 x 10~2 ml/1 for the
flowing well at Roika, and the lowest value being 5 x 10~5 ml/1 (close to the limit of
detection) in the northeast part of the Sabarmati basin. In general, it can be seen that
the helium data do not follow any systematic pattern. Some wells show abnormally
high helium concentrations with respect to nearby wells. In the Sabarmati basin
high helium concentrations ( > 10~4 ml/1) are observed in the eastern, south central
and western parts. Helium concentrations in groundwater in the western part of the
Sabarmati basin close to Lake Nal are an order of magnitude higher than the
highest values in other parts of the basin. Similar anomalous patterns of helium
concentrations in groundwater are also noticed in the Jaisalmer district of Rajas-
than (Fig. 2).
Because groundwaters progressively farther from the recharge areas spend an
increasingly longer time in contact with aquifer material, they would acquire
increasingly larger amounts of helium produced from the radioactive decay of
uranium and thorium in the aquifer matrix. The regional groundwater flow direc-
tion in the Sabarmati basin inferred from the hydrological gradient and radiocar-
bon age data is northeast-southwest (Groundwater Cell, PRL, 1977; Borole et al.,
1978; Bhattacharyaeïa/., 1979). If the primary source of helium in the groundwater
samples analysed is the decay of uranium and thorium contained in the aquifer
matrix (assumed to be uniformly distributed in the absence of data to the contrary)
one would expect a gradually increasing helium concentration in the general flow
direction. It is clear from Fig. 1 that the helium data in the Sabarmati basin exhibit
no such trend. Absence of any correlation between the 'age' of groundwater and the
helium concentration in the areas investigated is also seen from Fig. 3 where the
apparent radiocarbon ages of 19 groundwater samples have been plotted against
 186 P. S. Dada et al.
TABLE 1. Water helium survey data in Gujarat and Rajasthan

Location Well Average

helium
Sample Identification concentration
no. Name Latitude* Longitude* Type no. (xlO~5ml/l)

Gujarat
1 Navagam 23°02' 73°03' TW PRL-80 5.2
2 Torna 22Q58' 72°59' DCB — 5.2
3 Kaniel 22°58' 72"58' TW TK-14 5.2
4 Sarali 22°55' 72=58' OW — 5.2
5 Sarali 22"55' 72°58' TW TK-10 18.5
6 Pithai 22"55' 72°56' TW TK-13 43.3
7 Bagdol 22"56' 72=56' TW — —
8 Bagdol 22°56' 72°56' OW — 10.5
9 Karoli 22°53' 72"53' TW TK-15 6.8
10 Kesra 22'49' 72 c 50' TW — 13.2
11 Khatraj 22°50' 72°48' TW TK-41 11.8
12 Khumarwad 22°45' 72°44' TW TK-36 10.5
13 Sanali 22°46' 72"59' TW FK-36 104.0
14 Vasna Bujarg 22°43' 72=40' TW UK-9 40.3
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15 Chacharwadi Vasna 22°52' 72°26' TW PRIVATE 10.9

16 Jalalpur Vajifa 22'45' 72=29' TW TAB-18 25.7
17 Ambaliyara 22°46' 72°31' TW TAB-20 31.4
18 Dholka 22"43' 72°27' TW FAB-9 12.2
19 Gangad 22°41' 72°17' TW RFAB-44 30.0
20 Roikat 22°39' 72°14' TW VAB-3 1417.2
21 Dedhal 22"50' 72*21' TW VAB-2 48.4
22 Pipan 22°56' 72°23' TW RFAB-30 13.8
23 Nadol 23°10' 72 c 46' TW No. 68 6.0
24 Prantia 23°12' 72=43' TW No. 69 5.6
25 Firozpur TW FGN-6 5.2
26 Muthia 23°06' 72°42' TW No.25 8.5
27 Dabhoda 23°57' 72=42' TW S-10 6.2
28 Vadanagar 23°47' 72=33' TW No.70 13.2
29 Sawala 23°40' 72=30' TW No. 42 12.4
30 Kayalat 22°51' 72°04' TW — 535.3
31 Vekariat 22°49' 72°04' TW — 486.1
32 Devadthalt 22°46' 72°07' TW VAB-4 11.6
33 Matar 22°42' 72°40' OW — 6.9
34 Dabhan 22=43' 72°49' OW 5.2
35 Alindra 22°42' 72°58' OW 6.9
36 Chandana 22°43' 72°36' TW FK-30 31.0
37 Khatripur 22°43' 72°30' OW 5.2
38 Rampur 22°43' 72°29' TW 27.6
39 Navagam 22°46' 72°34' TW PWD 25.9
40 Bareja 22=50' 72°36' OW 17.6
41 Radhu 22°42' 72°35' DCB 6.0
42 Labha 22°55' 72°35' OW 5.3
43 Sarkhej 22=59' 72°30' OW 5.2
44 Saijpur 22°58' 72°40' TW 7.8
45 Kuha 22°59' 72°48' TW 7.5
46 Ode 22°37' 73°07' OW 7.5
47 Umreth 22°42' 73°07' OW 7.0
48 Heranj 22°44' 73°02' OW 29.9
49 Gandhipura 22°45' 72°40' DCB 6.0
50 Ahmedabad 23=02' 72°36' TW 5.2
 Survey of helium in groundwater 187
TABLE 1 (com.)

Location Well Average

helium
Sample Identification concentration
no. Name Latitude* Longitude* Type no. ( x l 0 ^ 5 m l 1)

Rajasthan
51 Kajarinadi 26°59' 71=22' TW 22.6
52 Lathi 27=02' 71°31' TW 125.5
53 Loharki 27=08' 71=46' OW 45.0
54 Dahisar 26°38' 71°17' TW 57.5
55 Bardana 27°11' 71=43' TW 5.2
56 Ajasar 27°15' 71=43' TW 7.7
57 Dabla 26=51' 71=05' TW 13.6
58 Bhairwa 26"55' 71=17' TW 52.8
59 Bhilani 26°33' 71=13' TW 5.2
60 Bhadodagaon 26°51' 71=10' TW 14.0
61 Fatehgarh 26°29' 71=12' TW 27.8
62 Chandan 26°59' 71=18' TW 125.9
63 Devikot 26°42' 71=10' TW 5.2
64 Bhujaka 26°57' 71°14' TW 16.3
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65 Karma-Ki Dhani 27°00' 71=22' TW 160.6

* To the nearest minute only.

t Flowing well.
TW = Tube well (depth 60-200 m); DCB = dug-cum-bore well (depth <60 m); OW = open well (depth <60m).

72 00' 7Sfl5' 7^30' 7^45' 73°Otf

WATER HELIUM DATA

SABARMATI BASIN
HELIUM CONCENTRATION I0!

• TUBE-WELLS, DEPTH (60

O OPEN-WELLS, DEPTH ( <
—•—BASEMENT FAULT

; L
FIG. 1. Map oftheSabarmati basin. Gujarat, showing sample locations, helium concentration contours
and location of deep seated faults (after Mathur et al., 1968) in the basaltic Basement. Circles enclosed in
squares represent wells for which radiocarbon age data are also available (Groundwater Cell, PRL,
1977).
 188 P. S. Datta et al.
7\°00 15' 30' 45'
| |
WATER HELIUM DATA
JAISALMER LATHI FORMATION
15
'~ -5
HELIUM CONCENTRATIONS IN 10 ml/t
• TUBE-WELL
G OPEN-WELL
sa= NATIONAL HIGHWAY
'DISTRICT BOUNDARY
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F I G . 2. Map of Jaisalmer district, Rajasthan, showing sample locations and observed helium concentra-
tions. Circles enclosed in squares represent wells for which radiocarbon age data are also available
(Bhattacharya et ai, 1979).

their helium concentrations. The highest apparent radiocarbon age so far obtained
in the region is ~ 18 000 years. Assuming approximately 1 g of aquifer material
contains about 2.0 ^g of Th; bulk density and porosity are 2.15 g/cc and 30 per cent
respectively; and that all the helium produced due to the decay of U and Th in the
aquifer is dissolved in the water; one would expect a concentration of 1.2 x 10 - 4 ml/1
( 7 x l 0 ~ 5 ml/1 radiogenic + 5 X 1 0 - 3 ml/1 pre-infiltration value) of helium for
groundwater with a 20 000 year residence time. In view of the fact that several
groundwater samples in the area investigated show helium concentrations several
times this expected value, one has to look for an additional source for the observed
helium anomalies.
It has earlier been pointed out that several Russian scientists (Eremeev et ai,
1972; Golubev et ah, 1975; Levina et ah, 1975) have found a direct correlation
between the concentration of helium in groundwater and the basement faults. It has
been suggested that the fault zones in the basement act as conduits for mobile
helium found in deeper layers. The Sabarmati basin is known to be a Cenozoic basin
 Survey of helium in groundwater 189
T—r~n i i i1 1 1 1 ! I I 1 1

-PRE-iNFlLTRATION
VALUE

10 10 10
,4
APPARENT C AGE (Yrs)
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FIG. 3. Plot of apparent radiocarbon ages and observed helium concentration in groundwaters of the
study areas in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Note the absence of any correlation.

with basic lava flows (known as Deccan Traps) forming the basement of the
overlying Tertiary and Quaternary sediments. The total thickness of sediments in
the deepest part of the basin is of the order of 5000 m (Mathur et al., 1968). The
major basement faults in the study area are shown in Fig. 1 (Mathur et ai, 1968). It
is seen that, except in the western part of the study area, the helium anomalies are
related to the fault alignments; indicating that the helium source may be deep-seated
in the basaltic Basement. The fault zones, which must have a higher permeability,
probably act as source regions for feeding the mobile helium into the overlying
sediments. The helium would then diffuse through the pores. Both the vertical and
the horizontal diffusion will, to some extent, be affected by the flow of other fluids,
such as water, oil and natural gas, that fill the pores between the sediment grains.
There are no published data on the alignment of the Basement faults in the
western part of the Sabarmati basin close to Lake Nal, where we observed very high
( > 5 x 10~3 ml/1) helium concentrations in groundwater samples. It may be worth
noting here that the groundwater in this region shows a high temperature anomaly
(5-15°C higher than the average basin temperature of 30°C). In view of this
association between temperature and helium anomalies we feel that the observed
high helium values are also derived from a source within or deeper than the basaltic
Basement and are probably aligned along an unknown Basement fault.
If we now accept that the source of observed helium anomalies in the central and
eastern part of the study area is due to the helium fed through the fault zones in the
basaltic Basement one would expect to see a negative correlation between the
magnitude of the observed helium anomaly and the thickness of overlying sedi-
ments which may act to dampen the anomaly through diffusion. In Fig. 4 the sample
locations are plotted on a map showing the depth to the Deccan Trap Basement in
the Sabarmati basin (after Avasthi et al., 1969). Figure 5 is a graph of 'excess'
(total —pre-infiltration) helium concentration in groundwater plotted against the
 190 P. S. Datta et al.
72 0 0 ' 72 15 72° 30' 72 45 73 0 0
23"I 5
MAP OF TRAP SURFACE, SABARMATI BASIN

"~*—' Contour of Depth to trap Surface (m)

^^_ Basement Fault
3000 Water-Helium Station

23 0 0

22 45
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FIG. 4. Map showing contours of depth to Trap Basement (after Avasthie? ai. 1969). Sample locations,
and estimated thickness between the sampled aquifer and the top of Trap surface, and the Basement
faults are also indicated.

estimated thickness of the sediments separating the basement and the aquifer that
supplied the water samples. A power law type of relationship is indicated by the data
(correlation coefficient of the least squares fit line on log-log plot= —0.8):
(He)cxccss = (6.2xl0 3 )Z- (1)
Thus, the intensity of helium anomalies in the near surface (0-200 m) layer in the
Sabarmati basin is approximately inversely proportional to the square of the
thickness of the sedimentary strata. Part of the scatter in Fig. 5 is due to considerable

EXCESS HELIUM CONCENTRATION (10 m l / l i t r e )

10 100

10,000
FIG. 5. Plot showing 'excess' (observed — pre-infiltration) helium concentration against the estimated
thickness of sedimentary strata between the sampled aquifer and the Trap surface. The least square fit
line shown has a negative correlation coefficient of 0.8 between the log values.
 Survey of helium in groundwater 191
uncertainty in the depth to the Basement as taken from published small scale
maps, and is also due to the varying depth of the aquifer sampled. In addition, there
is also a ±20 per cent error on the observed helium concentrations. Similar
dependence of the anomalous helium contents on the thickness of sedimentary beds
(HeCxccv, = 105Z~2-2) was observed by Golubev et al. (1975) in the Kazkhstan region
of the USSR.
In this explanation of the observed helium anomalies we have assumed that the
fault zones, because of their higher permeability, act as feeder channels of helium
(and possibly other gases) into the overlying sediments. The source of helium could
then be either the upper mantle of the Earth, if the faults are deep enough to act as a
zone of weakness in the Earth's crust, or the degassing of the basaltic Basement
along the fault zones, where due to fracturing and crushing a much larger thickness
of the rock may degas. The possibility of a mantle source for tectonically related
anomalous helium has been established in several parts of the world (Levina et al..
1975; Naughton et al.. 1973; Graig & Lupton, 1976; Wakita et al., 1978). In the
present case the faults are known to be deep-seated and block movement has
continued along them with several reversals right up to the Pliocene (Mathur et al.,
1968). High heat flow values in the study area have been interpreted as due to
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igneous intrusions in the crust beneath the basin during Pliocene-Miocene times
(Gupta et al.. 1970). It is, therefore, likely that in the present case the anomalous
helium has an upper mantle origin. The question can be settled only after making
isotope ratio measurements which are known to be characteristic of the source
region (Lupton et al., 1977; Krylov et al., 1975).

CONCLUSION
Helium concentrations in the shallow groundwaters of both the Sabarmati basin
and the Gujarat, and Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan exhibit localized anomalies.
It has been shown that the high helium concentration bears no relationship to the
radiocarbon age of groundwater. Helium anomalies in the Sabarmati basin are
localized along major fault zones in the Deccan Traps that form the Basement in the
study area. The magnitude of the anomalies is shown to be approximately inversely
proportional to the square of the thickness of the sedimentary strata between the
sampled aquifer and the Trap surface.
It is believed that the helium anomalies arise due to the preferential degassing of
the basaltic Basement along the fault zones, because of the increased permeability
and the opening of a larger thickness for degassing. Alternatively it is possible that
the observed anomalies are due to the degassing of mantle helium diffusing upwards
along the zones of weakness (deep-seated Basement faults) in the crust. It should be
possible to decide between these alternatives when data on isotopic ratios become
available.
The present studies on the dating of groundwater are significant for the following
reasons. In regions that are tectonically active or have had a recent tectonic history,
the use of rare gases produced by radioactive decay (e.g. 4He and 40Ar) for dating of
groundwater may become complicated because of the preferential degassing of
deeper layers of the earth along fault zones. For the same reason, use of rare gas
cosmogenic nuclides (e.g. 39Ar, 8l Kr, 85Kr) for dating of groundwater may also yield
erroneous results.
 192 P. S. Datta et al.
In view of the ease with which total helium in groundwater samples can be
measured by using an ion pump with a quartz diaphragm, we suggest a preliminary
water helium survey is undertaken before the use of other rare gas isotopes for
groundwater dating.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are grateful to Professor D. Lai for inducing us to undertake the present

investigation. We also thank Shri S. C. Sharma, Director (Geohydrology), Gujarat
Water Resources Development Corporation Ltd for his assistance in planning the
field programme of sample collection in the Sabarmati basin. Shri B. I. Desai, and
Shri S. R. Patel, helped us with the field work. We also acknowledge the help
received from Shri C. M. Dhadha, Chief Engineer, Groundwater Department,
Rajasthan, for the samples collected in Rajasthan.
Traces of the Basement fault in Sabarmati basin were provided by Shri R.B.
Mehrotra, Deputy Superintending Geologist, Oil and Natural Gas Commission,
Ahmedabad on the original 1:250 000 scale map. We gratefully acknowledge his
help and the discussions that have helped in the interpretation.
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We thank Miss Rita Pandya and Shri I. A. Quraishi for laboratory assistance.
This study forms a part of the work being done by the Groundwater Cell in PRL
through the financial assistance of the Government of Gujarat, Resolution No.
GWR/1975/285/I(i) dated 4 February 1975.

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