Using isotope data to characterize and date groundwater in the southern sector of the Guaraní Aquifer System.

The Guaraní Aquifer System (SAG) is the largest transboundary aquifer in Latin America, extending beneath parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. This paper presents the results of recent hydrogeological studies in the southern portion of the SAG. Locally, the abundance of surface water bodies precluded the use of conventional hydrological tools to characterize groundwater flows. Geological, hydrochemical and environmental isotope investigations were integrated to postulate a revised hydrogeological conceptual model. The revised geological model has provided a better definition of the geometry of the aquifer units and outlined the relevance of regional faults in controlling flow patterns. The new potentiometric map is consistent with groundwater flow from the SAG outcrops to the centre of the Corrientes Province, where upwards flows were identified. Hydrochemical and isotope data confirmed the widespread occurrence of mixing. Noble gas isotopes dissolved in groundwater (