Noble gases: a versatile exploration tool for water, minerals and hydrocarbons

Noble gases exist mainly as stable and some radioactive isotopes and are amongst the most versatile geoscientific exploration tools. Popular applications across nearly all areas involving fluid movement in the geosphere include: groundwater and its recharge conditions, connectivity between aquifers, groundwater flow velocity; ocean water circulation, water mass characterization and mixing; hydrocarbon evolution, its phase transitions and exchange with formation water; migration of crustal solutions and their precipitation processes as preserved in mineral fluid inclusions. For Australian researchers, a state-of-the-art noble gas facility is available to address a diverse range of fluid-driven geoscientific challenges. This paper summarizes the existing and emerging applications of the noble gas technology for characterizing groundwater and pore fluids and to underpin oil and gas research and mineral research from fluid inclusions.