Recharge and Preservation of Laurentide Glacial Melt Water in the Canadian Shield

Ground water inflows to drifts ranging from 700 to 1615 m below ground surface at the Con Mine, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, were used to study deep hydrogeological flow regimes in Shield terrain. Salinity trends are due to mixing between low‐TDS ground water and deep Ca(Na)‐C1 brines (>290 g/L) likely derived from Devonian sea water. C1‐−δ18O relationships demonstrate that all inflows are a mixture of three distinct components: modern meteoric ground water (δ18O ∼−18.9 ± 0.1%o), brine (δ18O ∼−10%o), and an isotopically depleted water (δ18O ∼−28%o). The origin of this third endmember is attributed to glacial melt water injected into the subsurface during ablation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at ca. 10 ka. A mechanism is proposed where high hydrostatic pressure in the ablation zone imposes strong downward gradients beneath the ice sheet margin. Numerical simulation with the SWIFT II finite‐difference code recreates the observed salinity gradients within a modeled 50‐year interval, corresponding with the rate of retreat of the ice sheet across the landscape at this time. The persistence of this melt water in the subsurface for some 10,000 years following retreat of the ice and decay of the steep hydraulic gradients highlights the importance of gradient, in addition to permeability, as a major control on ground water flow and transport in deep crystalline settings.