The NSS Bulletin - ISSN 1090-6924
Volume 46 Number 2: 36-40 - October 1984
A publication of the National Speleological Society

A Comparison Between Fluorescein Dye and Amorphous Silica for Groundwater Tracing
Albert E. Ogden and E. Wayne Pearce

Abstract

Two hydrologically different localities were chosen to compare the tracing capability of fluorescein dye to amorphous silica, a potentially new, groundwater tracer. Amorphous silica is commercially produced and is non-toxic, colorless, stable, and not easily siltered or absorbed. Although the amorphous silica was not detected in either test case, it is felt that in the more common, hydrologic karst systems with low water storage and single conduit transport, that the silica would be detectable over background. The silica should also prove useful in tracing between two wells in a low to medium storage, karstic aquifer.

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