Different parts of the Earth are composed of a variety of elements in varying amounts. Earth’s crust contains a variety of noble gases, one of those being helium. Natural helium occurs as two isotopes, helium-4 (4He) and helium-3 (3He.) Typically, helium-4 is more abundant in Earth’s crust, whereas helium-3 is more abundant in the mantle below. Thus, the helium-3/helium-4 ratio of the gas found in groundwater can provide an indication of the extent to which the water has interacted with volcanic rocks derived from the mantle. Waters that have equilibrated only with crustal rocks typically have low helium-3/helium-4 ratios, but Kennedy and van Soest found that some waters from hot springs near the Dixie Valley geothermal power plant in Nevada contained anomalously high ratios.
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