No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Isotope Hydrology of the Oldman River Basin, Southern Alberta, Canada
Abstract
The partially semi-arid Oldman River basin (OMRB), located in southern Alberta (Canada), has an area of 28 200 km2, is forested in its western headwater part, and is used for agriculture in its eastern part. Hydrometric measurements indicate that flow in the Oldman River has decreased by ∼34% between 1913 and 2003, and it is predicted that water withdrawals will increase in the next 20 years. The objective of this study was to determine whether isotope ratio measurements can provide further insight into the water dynamics of the Oldman River and its tributaries. Surface water samples were collected monthly between December 2000 and March 2003. Groundwater samples were taken from 58 wells during one-time sampling trips. Runoff within the OMRB is currently about 70 mm year−1, with a corresponding runoff ratio of 0·18. Seasonal flow characteristics are markedly different upstream and downstream of the Oldman River reservoir. Upstream, sharp increases in flow in late spring and early summer are followed by a rapid decrease to base flow levels. Downstream, a prolonged high flow peak is observed due to the storage effect of the Oldman River reservoir. The seasonal variation in the isotopic composition of surface water from upstream sites is small. This suggests that peak runoff is not predominantly generated by melting snow accumulated during the preceding winter, but mainly by relatively well-mixed young groundwater. A significant increase in the δ18O and δ2H values in the downstream part of the basin was observed. The increase in the isotopic values is partly due to surface water and groundwater influx with progressively higher δ18O and δ2H values in the eastern part, and partly due to evaporation. Hence, the combination of hydrometric data with isotope measurements yields valuable insights into the water dynamics in the OMRB that may be further refined with more intensive measurement programmes in the future. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... biweekly, monthly) surface water surveys of stable water isotopes (SWI) have been increasingly used to scale understanding of runoff gener-ation processes, evaluating source-water partitioning to streamflow on seasonal (e.g. St Amour et al., 2005;Brooks et al., 2012) and individual storm-event timescales, as well as the balance of mixing and evaporation processes influencing streamflow (Soulsby et al., 2006;Rock and Mayer, 2007;Frohlich et al., 2008;Yi et al., 2010). The Wistiwasing (Wasi) watershed (235 km 2 ) located near Callander Bay, Ontario, Canada, represents a Precambrian Shield headwater with mixed landuse (e.g. ...
... Baseflow SWI surveys are commonly used to differentiate the mixing of source waters (e.g. groundwater) to streamflow (Rock and Mayer, 2007;Yi et al., 2008;Gleeson et al., 2009;Gibson and Reid, 2010;Wassenaar et al., 2011). For instance, Rock and Mayer (2007) quantified spring rainfall, groundwater and snowmelt contributions to streamflow in the Oldman River, a 28 200 km 2 watershed in southern Alberta using SWI surveys. ...
... groundwater) to streamflow (Rock and Mayer, 2007;Yi et al., 2008;Gleeson et al., 2009;Gibson and Reid, 2010;Wassenaar et al., 2011). For instance, Rock and Mayer (2007) quantified spring rainfall, groundwater and snowmelt contributions to streamflow in the Oldman River, a 28 200 km 2 watershed in southern Alberta using SWI surveys. Seasonal variations in δ 18 O values of runoff, where more negative values were indicative of snowmelt, determined runoff to be predominately from well-mixed groundwater from previous years' recharge waters. ...
Hydrologic research has increasingly recognized the importance of mesoscale studies to provide a fundamental understanding of how processes combine at scales relevant to water resource management. At the mesoscale, the influence of landscape heterogeneity including both natural and human-altered conditions on streamflow generation is an open question; one to which analysis of stable water isotopes (SWI) are increasingly being applied to help address. In this study, SWI surveys are used to better understand spatial and temporal patterns of source water contributions to streamflow in the Wistiwasing watershed (235 km2) located near Callander Bay, Ontario, Canada, a Precambrian Shield headwater with mixed landuse (e.g. agriculture, forest). Bi-weekly surveys of surface water, groundwater and precipitation were conducted during May to September 2012 and samples were analyzed for SWI (δ18O and δ2H) using a Picarro L2120-i. Maps of point-scale surface water SWI were generated for each of the nine surveys and an SWI isoscape, an interpolated contour map, was generated from groundwater observations. Based on a comparison of surface and groundwater SWI maps, regions of strong groundwater influence on streamflow were particularly identifiable during low-flow, late summer conditions and corresponded with coarse-textured glaciolacustrine deposits. Higher-flow, early period conditions featured small SWI variation with values resembling long-term groundwater recharge, a mix of snowmelt and spring/fall rains. Late period low-flow conditions indicated large spatial variability due to changing influences of groundwater and upstream surface water undergoing summertime evaporative enrichment of heavier isotopes. In this case study, SWI observations provide important insight into source water dynamics across a mesoscale watershed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... Hydrological processes occurring between rainfall input and river discharge modify the stable isotopic composition of rivers and include the isotopic averaging during soil infiltration , runoff, damming (Ogrinc et al., 2008; Koeniger et al., 2009) and seasonally differential fractional inputs of water from surface and groundwater sources (Sklash, 1990; Buttle, 1994; Lambs, 2004 ); and heavy isotope ( 2 H, 18 O) enrichment due to the effects of watershed evapotranspiration or instream evaporation (Simpson and Herczeg, 1991; Gremillion and Wanielista, 2000; Telmer and Veizer, 2000) and isotopic fractionation of snowmelt (Taylor et al., 2002). All of these processes may result in markedly different average isotopic values in river discharge compared to precipitation, both in space and time (Dutton et al., 2005; Rock and Mayer, 2007). Generally, a review of the literature reveals that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. ...
... Generally, a review of the literature reveals that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. Longinelli and Edmond, 1983; Ramesh and Sarin, 1992; Pawellek et al., 2002; Winston and Criss, 2003; Rock and Mayer, 2007), except where high altitude tributaries merge into low elevation main stems (Yang et al., 1996; Yi et al., 2010). The cumulative effect of catchment-scale evapotranspiration and instream evaporative processes may additionally increase δ 18 O and δ 2 H values in the downstream direction. ...
... mid-reach Danube River in Austria; Rank et al., 1998 Rank et al., , 2014, or where upstream damming had altered natural runoff patterns, e.g. Oldman River, Canada; Rock and Mayer, 2007). Only 17 of the 235 GNIR stations examined could not be classified into one of these three riverine isotopic groupings . ...
We introduce a new online global database of riverine water stable isotopes (Global Network of Isotopes in Rivers, GNIR) and evaluate its longer-term data holdings. Overall, 218 GNIR river stations were clustered into three different groups based on the seasonal variation in their isotopic composition, which was closely coupled to precipitation and snowmelt water runoff regimes. Sinusoidal fit functions revealed phases within each grouping and deviations from the sinusoidal functions revealed important river alterations or hydrological processes in these watersheds. The seasonal isotopic amplitude of δ 18 O in rivers averaged 2.5 ‰, and did not increase as a function of latitude, like it does for global precipitation. Low seasonal isotopic amplitudes in rivers suggest the prevalence of mixing and storage such as occurs via lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater. The application of a catchment-constrained regionalized cluster-based water isotope prediction model (CC-RCWIP) allowed for direct comparison between the expected isotopic compositions for the upstream catchment precipitation with the measured isotopic composition of river discharge at observation stations. The catchment-constrained model revealed a strong global isotopic correlation between average rainfall and river discharge (R 2 = 0.88) and the study demonstrated that the seasonal isotopic composition and variation of river water can be predicted. Deviations in data from model-predicted values suggest there are important natural or anthropogenic catchment processes like evaporation, damming, and water storage in the upstream catchment.
... Hydrological processes occurring between rainfall input and river discharge modify the stable isotopic composition of rivers and include the isotopic averaging during soil infiltration , runoff, damming (Ogrinc et al., 2008; Koeniger et al., 2009) and seasonally differential fractional inputs of water from surface and groundwater sources (Sklash, 1990; Buttle, 1994; Lambs, 2004 ); and heavy isotope ( 2 H, 18 O) enrichment due to the effects of watershed evapotranspiration or instream evaporation (Simpson and Herczeg, 1991; Gremillion and Wanielista, 2000; Telmer and Veizer, 2000) and isotopic fractionation of snowmelt (Taylor et al., 2002). All of these processes may result in markedly different average isotopic values in river discharge compared to precipitation, both in space and time (Dutton et al., 2005; Rock and Mayer, 2007). Generally, a review of the literature reveals that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. ...
... Generally, a review of the literature reveals that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. Longinelli and Edmond, 1983; Ramesh and Sarin, 1992; Pawellek et al., 2002; Winston and Criss, 2003; Rock and Mayer, 2007), except where high altitude tributaries merge into low elevation main stems (Yang et al., 1996; Yi et al., 2010). The cumulative effect of catchment-scale evapotranspiration and instream evaporative processes may additionally increase δ 18 O and δ 2 H values in the downstream direction. ...
... mid-reach Danube River in Austria; Rank et al., 1998 Rank et al., , 2014, or where upstream damming had altered natural runoff patterns, e.g. Oldman River, Canada; Rock and Mayer, 2007). Only 17 of the 235 GNIR stations examined could not be classified into one of these three riverine isotopic groupings . ...
... Hydrological processes occurring between rainfall input and river discharge modify the stable isotopic composition of rivers including isotopic averaging during soil infiltration, runoff and damming (Ogrinc et al., 2008; Koeniger 25 et al., 2009) and seasonally differential fractional inputs of water from surface and groundwater sources (Sklash, 1990; Buttle, 1994; Lambs, 2004); heavy isotope ( 2 H, 18 O) enrichment due to the effects of watershed evapotranspiration or in-stream evaporation (Simpson and Herczeg, 1991; Gremillion and Wanielista, 2000 Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Discussion Paper | Veizer, 2000) and isotopic fractionation of snowmelt (Taylor et al., 2002). All of these processes may result in markedly different average isotopic values in river discharge compared to precipitation, both in space and time (Dutton et al., 2005; Rock and Mayer, 2007). Generally, a review of the literature shows that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations 5 in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. ...
... Generally, a review of the literature shows that longitudinal δ 18 O and δ 2 H variations 5 in a river strongly depend on the catchment elevation, since headwaters at high altitudes are generally depleted in 18 O and 2 H compared to lower elevation downstream regions (e.g. Longinelli and Edmond, 1983; Ramesh and Sarin, 1992; Pawellek et al., 2002; Winston and Criss, 2003; Rock and Mayer, 2007), except where high altitude tributaries merge into low elevation main stems (Yang et al., 1996; Yi et al., 2010). The 10 cumulative effect of catchment scale evapotranspiration and instream evaporative processes may additionally increase δ 18 O and δ 2 H values in the downstream direction. ...
... mid-reach Danube River in Austria (Rank et al., 1997Rank et al., , 15 2014), or where upstream damming altered natural run-off patterns (e.g. Oldman River, Canada, Rock and Mayer, 2007). Only 17 of the 235 GNIR stations examined could not be classified into one of these 3 riverine isotopic groupings. ...
We introduce a new online global database of riverine water stable isotopes (Global Network of Isotopes in Rivers) and evaluate its longer-term data holdings. Overall, 218 GNIR river stations were clustered into 3 different groups based on the seasonal variation in their isotopic composition, which was closely coupled to precipitation and snow-melt water run-off regimes. Sinusoidal fit functions revealed periodic phases within each grouping and deviations from the sinusoidal functions revealed important river alterations or hydrological processes in these watersheds. The seasonal isotopic amplitude of δ18O in rivers averaged 2.5 ‰, and did not increase as a function of latitude, as it does for global precipitation. Low seasonal isotopic amplitudes in rivers suggest the prevalence of mixing and storage such as occurs via lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater. The application of a catchment-constrained regionalized cluster-based water isotope prediction model (CC-RCWIP) allowed direct comparison between the expected isotopic composition for the upstream catchment precipitation with the measured isotopic composition of river discharge at observation stations. The catchment-constrained model revealed a strong global isotopic correlation between average rainfall and river discharge (R2 = 0.88) and the study demonstrated that the seasonal isotopic composition and variation of river water can be predicted. Deviations in data from model predicted values suggest there are important natural or anthropogenic catchment processes, like evaporation, damming, and water storage in the upstream catchment.
... Regional scale studies of operational watersheds are increasingly applying tracer approaches to assess water dynamic cycling (Smith, Delavau, & Stadnyk, 2015;St. Amour, Gibson, Edwards, Prowse, & Pietroniro, 2005;Yi, Gibson, Hélie, & Dick, 2010) and increasingly, to assess the influence of regulation, including hydroelectric reservoirs and dams (Rock & Mayer, 2007;Négrel, Petelet-Giraud, & Millot, 2016, Li et al., 2016, Fette, Kipfer, Schubert, Hoehn, & Wehrli, 2005. For large catchments with significant surface water storage, evaporative enrichment of surface water can provide distinct labelling allowing assessment of the influence of lake and reservoir storage on streamflow as distinct from other sources (e.g., groundwater, snowmelt) using quantitative water-mass balance approaches (Smith et al., 2015;St. ...
... Amour et al., 2005;Yi et al., 2010). Others describe spatial variation in source waters or under different flow regimes while not explicitly calculating percent source contributions (e.g., Rock & Mayer, 2007;Yi et al., 2010;Mountain, James, & Chutko, 2015). In several recent applications to regulated systems, changes to water aging due to regulation/impoundment are generated by assessing the variation of streamflow water isotopes (e.g., coefficient of variation, damping ratios, or monthly isotope anomalies) combined with estimates of reservoir volumes and flows (Li et al., 2016;Soulsby, Birkel, Geris, & Tetzlaff, 2015). ...
... Here, the climate in Northeastern Ontario results in the largest reservoirs (e.g., Lake Temagami) experiencing maximum effects of evaporative enrichment over large surface areas in addition to the influence of depleted spring snowmelt. Downstream of the main confluence, variability decreased similar to Rock and Mayer (2007), with decreasing influence of evaporation from reservoir storage and increasing influence of groundwater and unregulated western headwater flows. ...
Stable water isotope surveys have increasingly been integrated into river basins studies, but fewer have used them to evaluate impact of hydropower regulation. This study applies hydrologic and water isotope survey approaches to a Canadian shield river basin with both regulated and natural flows. Historical streamflow records were used to evaluate the influence of three hydroelectric reservoirs and unregulated portions of the basin on downstream flows, and changes in water level management implemented after an extreme flood year (1979). In 2013, water isotope surveys of surface and source waters (e.g. rainfall, groundwater, snowmelt) were conducted to examine spatial and temporal variation in contributions to river flow. Seasonal changes in relative groundwater contribution were assessed using a water‐isotope mass balance approach. Within the basin, two regulated reservoirs exhibited inverted hydrographs with augmented winter flows, while a third exhibited a hydrograph dominated by spring snowmelt. In 2013, spatial variation in rain‐on‐snow and air temperatures resulted in a critical lag in snowmelt initiation in the southern and northern portions of the basin resulting in a dispersed, double peak spring hydrograph, contrasting with 1979 when a combination of rain‐on‐snow and coincident snowmelt led to the highest flood on record. While eastern basin reservoirs become seasonally enriched in δ18O and δ2H values, unregulated western basin flows remain less variable due to groundwater driven baseflow with increasing influence downstream. Combined analysis of historical streamflow (e.g. flood of 1979, drought of 2010) and the 2013 water isotope surveys illustrate extreme meteorological conditions that current management activities are unable to prevent. In this study, the influence of evaporative fractionation on large surface water reservoirs provides important evidence of streamflow partitioning, illustrating the value of stable water isotope tracers for study of larger catchments.
... The stable isotopes of hydrogen (δ 2 H) and oxygen (δ 18 O) are environmental tracers employed in hydrological studies (Hoefs et al., 2009;Kendall et al., 1998). The isotopic compositions in river water could provide insights into the mechanisms responsible for observed hydrological characteristics such as hydrologic interactions within a given basin (Good et al., 2015;Jeelani et al., 2013), the effects of evaporative fractionation (Haiyan et al., 2018;Simpson et al., 1991; and discharge regimes (Ogrinc et al., 2008;Rock et al., 2007). Processes occurring in the hydrological cycle modify the stable isotopic compositions of rivers Koeniger et al., 2009). ...
... Because upstream waters at higher altitudes are generally depleted in δ 18 O compared with lowerelevation downstream regions (Longinelli et al., 1983;Rock et al., 2007;Winston et al., 2003;Zhu et al., 2018), δ 18 O variations in river waters strongly depend on the catchment elevation (Figure 8a), with a vertical lapse rate of −0.59‰/100 m (R = −0.51, P < 0.01). ...
Stable isotopic compositions (δ¹⁸O and d‐excess) from 25 rivers in Thailand were analyzed monthly during 2013–2015. Results indicated that monsoon precipitation fundamentally influences the river isotopes. The overland flow supplied from monsoon precipitation and human‐altered flow regimes produces considerable isotopic variability. Spatial and temporal variations were observed among four principal geographical regions. The seasonality of monsoon precipitation in mountainous Thailand produced large variations in isotopic compositions because most rainfall occurred during the southwest monsoon, and dry conditions prevailed during the northeast monsoon. The northern and northeastern regions are mountainous, highland areas. Low δ¹⁸O values were found in these regions, likely because of altitude effects on precipitation. Conversely, monsoonal precipitation continually supplies rivers in southern Thailand all year round, producing higher and more consistent δ¹⁸O values than in the other regions. The Chao Phraya plain in the central region experienced enrichment of δ¹⁸O river runoff related to evaporation in irrigation systems. Larger catchment areas and longer residence times resulted in more pronounced evaporation effects, producing lower values of d‐excess and local river water line slopes compared with precipitation. The isotopic differences between river waters and precipitation were utilized to determine river recharge elevations and water transit time. The methods presented here can be used to explore hydrological interactions in other tropical river basins.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
... A number of studies have shown the potential of stable isotopes (e.g., δ 18 O and δ 2 H) to elucidate the contributions of varying water sources and other hydrological processes to rivers (Koeniger, Leibundgut, & Stichler, 2009;Rock & Mayer, 2007). For instance, studies show that δ 18 O and δ 2 H signatures are highly correlated with changes in elevation, latitude, and longitude (Lechler & Niemi, 2011;Wassenaar, Van Wilgenburg, Larson, & Hobson, 2009). ...
... For instance, studies show that δ 18 O and δ 2 H signatures are highly correlated with changes in elevation, latitude, and longitude (Lechler & Niemi, 2011;Wassenaar, Van Wilgenburg, Larson, & Hobson, 2009). Because evap- oration creates a distinct isotopic composition in water, δ 18 O and δ 2 H isotopes have been applied to characterize the extent of evaporation as water moves downstream (Rock & Mayer, 2007;Yuan & Miyamoto, 2008). In areas where the composition of δ 18 O and δ 2 H of precipita- tion changes seasonally, it has been used to interpret which season is critical to groundwater recharge and/or stream flow (Martinelli, Gat, Camargo, Lara, & Ometto, 2004;Yuan & Miyamoto, 2008). ...
This paper presents the use of stable isotopes of water for hydrological characterization and flow component partitioning in the Red River Delta (RRD), the downstream section of the Red River. Water samples were collected monthly during 2015 from the mainstream section of the river and its right bank tributaries flowing through the RRD. In general, δ18O and δ2H river signatures were depleted in summer-autumn (May-October) and elevated in winter-spring (November-April), displaying seasonal variation in response to regional monsoon air mass contest. The Pacific equatorial-maritime air mass dominates in summer and the northern Asia continental air mass controls in winter. Results show that water of the RRD tributaries stems solely from local sources and is completely separated from water arriving from upstream sub-basins. This separation is due to the extensive management of the RRD (e.g. dykes and dams) for the purposes of irrigation and inundation prevention. Mainstream river section δ18O and δ2H compositions range from -10.58 and -73.74‰ to -6.80 and -43.40‰, respectively, and the corresponding ranges inside the RRD were from -9.35 and -64.27‰ to -2.09 and -15.80‰. A combination of data analysis and hydrological simulation confirms the role of upstream hydropower reservoirs in retaining and mixing upstream water. River water inside the RRD experienced strong evaporation characterized by depleted d-excess values, becoming negative in summer. On the other hand, the main stream of the Red River has d-excess values around 10‰, indicating moderate evaporation. Hydrograph separation shows that in upstream sub-basins, the groundwater fraction dominates the river flow composition, especially during low flow regimes. Inside the RRD, the river receives groundwater during the dry season while groundwater replenishment occurs in the rainy season. Annual evaporation obtained from this hydrograph separation computation was about 6.3% of catchment discharge, the same order as deduced from the difference between sub-basin precipitation and discharge values. This study shows the necessity to re-evaluate empirical approaches in large river hydrology assessment schemes, especially in the context of climate change.
... Comparison of hydrogen stable isotope composition of groundwater/creek water at the study sites compared to the stable isotope composition of the Oldman River(Rock & Mayer 2007). Hydrogen stable isotope composition of groundwater/creek water from the study sites from May-October 2008 and from the Oldman River fromApril-March 2001. ...
... Consequently, various approaches have been developed to estimate the contributions of different components in surface water, as these cannot be directly measured. Stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen of water samples can provide essential information about water dynamics within a given watershed (Ruck et al. 2007, Kattan et al. 2008, Fasong et al. 2008). These ratios are useful for identifying water sources via tracers of stable isotope hydrogen or oxygen, since different water sources act within a river at ...
Runoff generation and dynamics is an important issue in watershed and water resource management. Taking the Aksu river as a typical inland river, the spatial and temporal variations of δ18O and δD of the river water and its sources component pattern were investigated from May 2012 to May 2013. The results showed the following three main findings. Firstly, we analyzed the runoff generation and mechanism over a longer time-scale in two tributaries of the Aksu river. Secondly, 46-54% of the runoff in the Aksu River was derived from groundwater, 31-36% from glacier meltwater, 5-8.8% from snow meltwater, and 10% from precipitation. Third major finding was the significant inconsistency of the climate change impact on water resource. Specifically, our results showed that Toxkan river is recharged by more glacier meltwater (36%), and responds to sensitive temperature changes. Autumn runoff is more sensitive to changes of precipitation and temperature.
... For studies dealing with coarse stable isotope data sets (e.g., monthly or bi-monthly), considering the differences of the performances between data sets of diverse sampling resolutions, the uncertainties associated to the predictions should be acknowledged and considered at the moment of the evaluation of hypotheses associated to these results. Monthly sampling resolution and monthly data are still frequently used in stable water isotope studies when either the effort or the costs are too high to realize a higher sampling frequency (e.g.,Goller et al., 2005;Rodgers et al., 2005;Viville et al., 2006;Liu et al., 2007;Rock and Mayer, 2007;Chen et al., 2012 ...
Precipitation event samples and weekly based water samples from streams and soils were collected in a tropical montane cloud forest catchment for 2 years and analyzed for stable water isotopes in order to understand the effect of sampling frequency in the performance of three lumped-parameter distribution functions (exponential-piston flow, linear-piston flow and gamma) which were used to estimate mean transit times of waters. Precipitation data, used as input function for the models, were aggregated to daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly and bi-monthly sampling resolutions, while analyzed frequencies for outflows went from weekly to bi-monthly. By using different scenarios involving diverse sampling frequencies, this study reveals that the effect of lowering the sampling frequency depends on the water type. For soil waters, with transit times on the order of few weeks, there was a clear trend of over predictions. In contrast, the trend for stream waters, which have a more damped isotopic signal and mean transit times on the order of 2 to 4 years, was less clear and showed a dependence on the type of model used. The trade-off to coarse data resolutions could potentially lead to misleading conclusions on how water actually moves through the catchment, notwithstanding that these predictions could reach better fitting efficiencies, fewer uncertainties, errors and biases. For both water types an optimal sampling frequency seems to be 1 or at most 2 weeks. The results of our analyses provide information for the planning of future fieldwork in similar Andean or other catchments.
... δ 2 H and δ 18 O in water Bow River samples fell along the local meteoric water line, with little seasonal variation compared to local precipitation (Peng 2004). Lower values of δ 2 H and δ 18 O in the Bow River at Calgary in the high flow period are consistent with a higher contribution from mountain sources (as represented by Lake Louise; Fig. 5), suggesting the Bow River water is dominated by a well-mixed source in the headwaters in this period (Rock and Mayer 2007;Katvala 2008). Prairie groundwater in the study is more consistent with, and largely derived from, Calgaryarea precipitation (Fig. 5). ...
Groundwater discharge and non-point source (NPS) loading were evaluated along an urban reach of an eastern-slopes Rocky Mountains river (Bow River, Canada) to understand sources of water-quality impacts and baseflow. The discharge did not increase measurably over a 16-km reach. Groundwater in the river-connected alluvial aquifer was a mixture of river and prairie groundwater, with elevated chloride concentrations (average 379 mg L-1) from road salt. Alluvial groundwater was the major NPS of chloride discharging to the river. Although the mass-flux based estimates of groundwater discharge were small (mean 0.02 m3 s-1 km-1, SD = 0.04 m3 s-1 km-1, n = 30), the associated chloride mass flux over 16 km was significant (equivalent to that discharged from the city's largest wastewater-treatment-plant effluent). Although local groundwater baseflow was previously thought to contribute significantly to overwinter baseflow in this reach, little contribution was measured in this study. Low baseflow generation is consistent with long-term river discharge data that show almost all of the baseflow generation occurs in the Rocky Mountain reach. Thus, local watershed areas are important for water-quality protection, but climate change in the headwaters is most salient to long-term flow.
... As these cannot be directly measured , various approaches (e.g., isotope method and empirical method) have been developed to estimate the contributions of these sources. Isotope method which utilizes stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen of water samples can provide essential information about water dynamics within a given basin (Ruck and Mayer 2007; Kattan et al. 2008; Yuan and Seiichi 2008 ). However , isotope hydrograph separation has been traditionally used to quantitatively assess the proportions of precipitation and baseflow in humid climate. ...
Runoff generation and its dynamics are fundamental to hydrology and very crucial to water resource management. Based on isotope hydrograph method, we explored and compared the runoff generation mechanism of two typical inland rivers in the Tianshan Mountains (i.e., Urumqi River on the north slope and Huangshuigou River on the south slope), based on a year-long frequently monitored weather, flow and isotope data. Results show the following: (1) In both rivers, precipitation, river water and groundwater exhibit noticeable spatial and temporal variations in stable δ18O and δD compositions in the Urumqi River and Huangshuigou River, and there is an increasing trend of δ18O in the river water during snowmelt period; (2) isotope hydrograph separation shows that generally groundwater is the major recharging source (over 50 % of streamflow), followed by glacier melt, snowmelt and precipitation in these two rivers, and Urumqi River has a larger contribution from glacier melt than Huangshuigou River; (3) these two rivers have similar contribution components in all seasons except spring in which Huangshuigou River has similar contributions from groundwater (55.6 %) and snowmelt (44.4 %) whereas Urumqi River has a larger contribution from groundwater (72.7 %) than snowmelt (27.3); (4) the Urumqi River is more sensitive to the temperature change than the Huangshuigou River, which might cause flooding that resulted from glacier melt in the Urumqi River.
... Calculating the proportion of ice-melt water in the total runoff can indicate the effect of climate change (Kong and Pang, 2011). The stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen of water samples can provide essential information about water dynamics within a given watershed (Ruck and Mayer, 2007). It is useful to identify water sources by tracers of stable isotope hydrogen or oxygen, as different water sources act within a river at different seasons. ...
The isotopic composition of river water, precipitation, and ice-snowmelt water have been measured in samples simultaneously collected at 29 sampling sites located at the junction of the principal river course and its tributaries. Distribution of stable isotopes, and temporal and spatial variations of δD and δ18O of river water and the sources of the Tizinafu River were investigated. The δ18O values of river water samples were near the GMWL and LMWL, which indicated similarity in constitution of water sources. We found significant seasonal effect in the water isotope, with maximum values in summer, and minimum values in winter. The d-excess changes in the opposite sense. Response of water isotope and d-excess towards temperature and elevation were assessed by correlation analysis. A negative relationship between elevation and δ18O was found, whereas little relationship was found for the elevation and d-excess. Furthermore, we quantitatively determined the ratio of ice-melt water using isotope hydrograph separation. Results showed the contribution of ice-snowmelt water varied from 25.96% to 68.87% for spatial characteristics, and from 28.31% to 65.43% for seasonal characteristics. The mean of the ice-snowmelt percentage is 43%, which meant that ice-snowmelt water was the main supplying water source for the Tizinafu River. The roles of ice-snowmelt water should be noted in water resource management in glacial rivers.
... We applied this method to characterizing water dynamics among soils and plant roots and stems. Generally, the stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in water samples can identify water sources and water dynamics in watersheds [30,43] Previous studies using dD tracers have shown that sugar maple trees can absorb water from groundwater through the root system [44] and that the shrub Artemisia ordosia takes advantage of deeper soil water recharged by large rain events in arid regions [6]. In our study, comparison of the similarity in the relationship between dD vs. d 18 O of soil and stem water indicated that stem water of our subalpine shrubs originated primarily from soil water with a depth of 0e50 cm. ...
Stable isotopic characteristics of plant water represent an integrated response of root systems to water sources with different isotopic signatures. Analysis of these signatures can help to identify many ecological processes involved in the uptake, transport and utilization of different water sources. In August 2003, we collected soil water samples throughout the soil profile from a subalpine shrub ecosystem in Wolong Nature Reserve, West China, along with stem water samples from the two dominant shrub species, Quercus aquifolioides and Salix luctuosa. Stable isotope contents of the different water samples were determined in conjunction with rootlet biomass distribution of each species and soil water content throughout the soil profile. Results indicated that these subalpine non-phreatophytic shrubs utilized soil water primarily from the top 30 cm of the soil profile. Water uptake patterns were significantly positively correlated with rootlet biomass distribution as well as the soil water content profile. Hence, the two shrubs could play an important role in keeping rainwater from entering river channels quickly, thereby reducing risk of flooding.
... Researchers at the University of Calgary have focused on characterizing water sources in the headwater tributaries (Rock and Mayer, 2007). Combinations of hydrometric, chemical and isotope approaches have also been used to identify sources of sulfate and nitrate in the hydrosphere and to study their transformation processes in watersheds (Mayer, 2005;Rock and Mayer 2004;2006a;b;Mayer et al., 2007;Prietzel et al., 2004). ...
This article provides an overview of recent progress in isotope tracer hydrology in Canada during 2003-2008, identifying over 85 published scientific articles. The cornerstone of Canada's contribution to isotope hydrology has been and continues to be via contributions from independent university- based researchers and students to the peer reviewed literature. Long-standing networks, such as the Canadian Network for Isotopes in Precipitation, and scientific steering groups, such as the Canadian Geophysical Union Committee on Isotopic Tracers, have also been important coordinating bodies for data collection, analysis and dissemination, and have sought to improve awareness of current interests, as well as to promote meetings and community activities. Research linkages to international programs such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)/World Meteorological Organization's Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation, IAEA Coordinated Research Programs such as Large River Basins and Geostatistical Spatial Analysis, and recent involvement with the International Association of Hydrological Sciences International Commission on Tracers have been some of the more visible contributions to Canada's international efforts.
... • Related to the previous point, increased winter snowmelt water into (frozen) soils is likely to become more prevalent, resulting in increased winter soil water and runoff. This will affect shallow groundwater storage (Rock and Mayer 2007). ...
... The comparatively short duration of the increase in stream-water N in our study is most likely related to the high intensity and severity of the Lost Creek wildfire (i.e., reduced organic matter available for nitrification), the steep slopes and hydraulic gradients of the burned watersheds, and the very high precipitation across the study region (i.e., rapid mobilization of available N). The high precipitation combined with the steep hydrologic gradient imposed by the relief can produce substantial subsurface or groundwater flow in these headwater regions (Rock and Mayer 2007). This may have rapidly transported the soluble forms of N into the receiving streams, leading to a shorter duration of elevated stream-water N. As revegetation has been slow because of the severity of the burn in these high-elevation watersheds, immobilization due to vegetation uptake is likely to have had a smaller influence on initial (3 year) N recovery in this study. ...
The objective of this study was to examine initial effects of the 2003 Lost Creek wildfire (southwestern Rocky Mountains of Alberta) on concentrations and production (yield and total export) of several nitrogen (N) forms, and to explore initial recovery of these effects within the first 3 years after the fire. During the first postfire year, nitrate (NO3-), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations in severely burned watershed streams were 6.5, 4.1, and 5.3 times greater, respectively, than those in reference streams. Weaker effects were evident for concentrations of ammonium (NH4+; 1.5 times) and total particulate nitrogen (TPN; 3.0 times). A rapid decline in mean watershed concentrations and production of NO3-, DON, total dissolved nitrogen (TDN), and TN was observed from burned watersheds over the three seasons after the fire. However, elevated NO3-, TDN, and TN concentrations and production were still evident during the snowmelt freshet and following precipitation events after 3 years. Effects of the burn were strongly influenced by the regional flow regime, with the most elevated N concentrations and production occurring during higher discharge periods (snowmelt freshet and storm flows).
... Moreover, secondary evaporation between cloud base and ground influences the isotopic composition of small-amount precipitation events predominantly in the summer months, when runoff and groundwater recharge are typically low. Therefore, we submit that slope values of less than 7 for δ 2 H–δ 18 O correlations for surface waters (Kendall and Coplen, 2001; Ferguson et al., 2007) or groundwaters (Fritz et al., 1987; Rock and Mayer, 2007 ) in western North America indicate postrainfall evaporation in the soils or water bodies of the respective watersheds. ...
Stable isotope compositions of hydrogen (δ2H) and oxygen (δ18O) for short-term precipitation samples (n= 436) collected at Calgary, Alberta, Canada, between January 1997 and December 2001 were determined. Linear regression between δ2H and δ18O values of snow and large amount rain samples (≥4 mm) yielded correlation equations δ2H = 7.72 ×δ18O + 5.02 and δ2H = 7.50 ×δ18O + 0.27, respectively. In contrast, correlation equations between δ2H and δ18O values for small amount rain samples (<4 mm) resulted in progressively lower slope and intercept values with decreasing precipitation. Correlations of isotope data with parameters such as local temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation amount provided evidence that small amount rain samples undergo secondary evaporation accompanied by mass dependent isotope fractionation during their descent from the cloud base to the ground. Hence, the isotope compositions of precipitation at Calgary, and likely also at other locations in the North American Great Plains region, are influenced by below-cloud secondary effects. Since about one-third of the precipitation events in the 5-yr observation period were rain samples accumulating less than 4 mm, below-cloud secondary effects resulted in a slight decrease of slope and intercept values of the local meteoric water line (δ2H = 7.43 ×δ18O – 2.79) calculated using amount-weighted monthly average δ2H and δ18O values compared to equations based on isotope data for snow and large amount rain events only. The correlation equation (δ2H = 7.11 ×δ18O – 11.60) calculated using δ2H and δ18O values of individual samples (non-amount weighted) yielded the lowest slope and intercept values caused by the significant influence of small amount rain samples.
... These results indicate that it is plausible that groundwater recharge in the spring melt period may have the greatest effect on baseflow production in the summer and fall months. Likewise, Rock and Mayer (2006) concluded through isotope analysis that groundwater is a principal contributor to peak streamflow in the Oldman River watershed. Beaver Creek is a perennial stream, yet the majority of precipitation is received in the months of May, June and July. ...
The current body of research in western North America indicates that water resources in southern Alberta are vulnerable to climate change impacts. The objective of this research was to parameterize and verify the ACRU agro-hydrological modeling system for a small watershed in southern Alberta and subsequently simulate the change in future hydrological responses over 30-year simulation periods. The ACRU model successfully simulated monthly streamflow volumes (r
2 = 0.78), based on daily simulations over 27 years. The delta downscaling technique was used to perturb the 1961–1990 baseline climate record from a range of global climate model (GCM) projections to provide the input for future hydrological simulations. Five future hydrological regimes were compared to the 1961–1990 baseline conditions to determine the average net effect of change scenarios on the hydrological regime of the Beaver Creek watershed over three 30-year time periods (starting in 2010, 2040 and 2070). The annual projections of a warmer and mostly wetter climate in this region resulted in a shift of the seasonal streamflow distribution with an increase in winter and spring streamflow volumes and a reduction of summer and fall streamflow volumes over all time periods, relative to the baseline conditions (1961–1990), for four of the five scenarios. Simulations of actual evapotranspiration and mean annual runoff showed a slight increase, which was attributed to warmer winters, resulting in more winter runoff and snowmelt events.
... A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t naturally occurring hydrologic tracers to constrain estimates of the contributions of different water sources to stream flow, including snowmelt, glacier meltwater, and groundwater baseflow (Dinçer et al., 1970;Hooper and Shoemaker, 1986;Rodhe, 1998;Rock and Mayer, 2007;Zhang et al., 2009;Pu et al., 2012). ...
Glacier-melt-induced changes in runoff are of concern in the Northwestern China, where glacier runoff is a major source for irrigation, industries and ecosystems. Samples were collected in different water mediums such as precipitation, glacial ice/snowcover, meltwater, groundwater and streamwater for the analysis of stable isotopes and solute contents during the 2009 runoff season in the Laohugou Glacial Catchment. The multi-compare results of δ 18O values showed that significant difference existed in different water mediums. Source waters of streamflow were determined using data of isotopic and geochemical tracers and a three-component hydrograph separation model. The results indicated that meltwater dominated (69.9 ± 2.7%) streamflow at the catchment. Precipitation and groundwater contributed 17.3 ± 2.3% and 12.8 ± 2.4% of the total discharge respectively. According to monthly hydrograph, the contribution of snow and glacier meltwater varied from 57.4% (September) to 79.1% (May), and that of precipitation varied from 0% (May) to 34.6% (September). At the same time, the monthly contribution of groundwater kept relatively steady, varied from 9.7% (June) to 20.9% (May) in runoff season. Uncertainties for this separation were mainly caused by the variation of tracer concentrations. It is suggested that end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) method can be used in the runoff separation in an alpine glacial catchment.
... A large number of studies have demonstrated the powerfulness of river water isotopes for characterizing the hydrological and climatic patterns in catchments and river basins (Dutton et al., 2005;Kendall and Coplen, 2001;Kendall and McDonnell, 1998), yet few studies addressed the quantitative estimation of river surface evaporation using water isotopes. However, for most natural rivers, evaporation plays a minor role in isotopic changes, and there are many other processes could cause isotopic evolution besides evaporation, such as drainage flow from dams or lakes, tributaries inflow with different isotopic composition (Aravena and Suzuki, 1990;Simpson and Herczeg, 1991;Rock and Mayer, 2007;Wu et al., 2018). Furthermore, water exchange like direct precipitation, snowmelt, surface runoff and groundwater recharge can suppress evaporative isotope signature (Winston and Criss, 2003). ...
Water stable isotopes have extensive applications in the study of riverine hydrological process, in particular, isotopic enrichment occurring along flow direction can be used as an indicator to estimate river surface evaporation. However, this application is difficult in natural rivers due largely to complex water exchange along river channel. China’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP) is the largest artificial river designed to divert water from south to north through its enclosed, long span open canal, therefore providing a practice to estimate river surface evaporation by using isotope method. In this paper, we carried out hydrometeorological surveys and sampled canal water along the Middle Route of SNWDP (MRP) in two seasons, July 2018 and April 2019, for δ¹⁸O and δ²H measurement, then simulated the isotopic enrichment in canal water by using Craig-Gordon (C-G) evaporation model. We found clear increasing trend in heavy isotopes along the long span canal from head water to the end, resulting from evaporation enrichment. We used C-G evaporation model to estimate evaporation ratio E/V of canal water. Results show a ratio of evaporation loss of 2.54%~3.73% in July 2018 and 1.66%~2.39% in April 2019. We also found obvious seasonal differences existed in canal water isotopes, evaporation enrichment and the CWEL (canal water evaporation line), in association with more intensive evaporation in summer. Some large isotope fluctuations along the canal are mostly related to rainfall events, altering the canal water isotope signal. Our result in this study highlights the potential for water isotopes in the application of inter-basin water resources management, in particular, with increasing stress from water shortage and anthropogenic impact.
... Rood, unpublished data). In addition, the average (±SD) δD value of water from the Oldman River at a point 33 km upstream of the Oldman River dam (near the river's head waters and the lodgepole pine site) was −144 ± 3‰ (Rock and Mayer 2007). If groundwater was available at the lodgepole pine site, we suggest that it should have a δD value of ~ −145‰. ...
Tree species response to climate change-induced shifts in the hydrological cycle depends on many physiological traits, particularly variation in water relations characteristics. We evaluated differences in shoot water potential, vulnerability of branches to reductions in hydraulic conductivity, and water source use between Pinus contorta Dougl. ex Loud. var. latifolia Engelm. (lodgepole pine) and Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco (interior Douglas-fir), and determined the consequences for seasonal changes in photosynthetic capacity. The Douglas-fir site had soil with greater depth, finer texture and higher organic matter content than soil at the lodgepole pine site, all factors that increased the storage of soil moisture. While the measured xylem vulnerability curves were quite similar for the two species, Douglas-fir had lower average midday shoot water potentials than did lodgepole pine. This implied that lodgepole pine exhibited stronger stomatal control of transpiration than Douglas-fir, which helped to reduce the magnitude of the water potential gradient required to access water from drying soil. Stable hydrogen isotope measurements indicated that Douglas-fir increased the use of groundwater during mid-summer when precipitation inputs were low, while lodgepole pine did not. There was a greater reduction of photosynthetic carbon gain in lodgepole pine compared with Douglas-fir when the two tree species were exposed to seasonal declines in soil water content. The contrasting patterns of seasonal variation in photosynthetic capacity observed for the two species were a combined result of differences in soil characteristics at the separate sites and the inherent physiological differences between the species.
... This difference between the stable isotopic compositions of surface and groundwaters can be used to estimate groundwater discharge into a river or a lake. For instance, Rock & Mayer (2007) revealed the mixing of groundwater with river water in the Oldman River basin in Canada. ...
We present the spatial variations and isotopic fractionations of the stable isotopic compositions of waters across central Sri Lanka and discuss their applicability as tracers in hydrological studies of the island. The stable isotopic compositions of lake waters in the dry zone of the island were affected by evaporative isotopic enrichment and therefore can be used to estimate the evaporative loss from these lakes. The stable isotopic compositions of stream waters in the wet zone indicate a clear equilibrium isotopic fractionation with altitude (the altitude effect), which is useful in tracing water sources. The isotopic compositions of stream waters in the dry and intermediate zones are higher than expected from their altitude, likely stemming from the outflow of water from upstream tanks or reservoirs that are affected by evaporative isotopic enrichment and are unsuitable for estimating the altitude effect in those areas. The stable isotopic compositions of groundwater and tap and bottled waters plot along the local meteoric water line, suggesting that these waters preserve information on the isotopic compositions of rainwater in their recharge areas. Results indicate that the stable isotopic compositions of surface waters can be an effective tool in the hydrological and hydrogeological studies of the island.
... temporary storage of winter– early spring precipitation in the snowpack and in the glacier body and their melting during the late spring and summer controls the variability in solute and isotopic compositions of stream water (Kendall and McDonnell, 1998). Therefore, hydrochemical tracers allow for an effective identification of water sources and their variability within the catchments and over different seasons, providing essential information about water partitioning and water dynamics and improving our understanding of complex hydrology and hydroclimatology of the catchment (Rock and Mayer, 2007; Fan et al., 2015; Xing et al., 2015 ). Particularly, a few works relied on stable isotopes of water ( 2 H and 18 O) used in combination with EC to evaluate the role played by meltwater in the hydrology of glacierized catchments. ...
Multiple water sources and the physiographic heterogeneity of glacierized catchments hamper a complete conceptualization of runoff response to meltwater dynamics. In this study, we used environmental tracers (stable isotopes of water and electrical conductivity) to obtain new insight into the hydrology of glacierized catchments, using the Saldur River catchment, Italian Alps, as a pilot site. We analysed the controls on the spatial and temporal patterns of the tracer signature in the main stream, its selected tributaries, shallow groundwater, snowmelt and glacier melt over a 3-year period. We found that stream water electrical conductivity and isotopic composition showed consistent patterns in snowmelt-dominated periods, whereas the streamflow contribution of glacier melt altered the correlations between the two tracers. By applying two- and three-component mixing models, we quantified the seasonally variable proportion of groundwater, snowmelt and glacier melt at different locations along the stream. We provided four model scenarios based on different tracer signatures of the end-members; the highest contributions of snowmelt to streamflow occurred in late spring–early summer and ranged between 70 and 79 %, according to different scenarios, whereas the largest inputs by glacier melt were observed in mid-summer, and ranged between 57 and 69 %. In addition to the identification of the main sources of uncertainty, we demonstrated how a careful sampling design is critical in order to avoid underestimation of the meltwater component in streamflow. The results of this study supported the development of a conceptual model of streamflow response to meltwater dynamics in the Saldur catchment, which is likely valid for other glacierized catchments worldwide.
... Moreover, secondary evaporation between cloud base and ground influences the isotopic composition of small-amount precipitation events predominantly in the summer months, when runoff and groundwater recharge are typically low. Therefore, we submit that slope values of less than 7 for δ 2 H-δ 18 O correlations for surface waters (Kendall and Coplen, 2001;Ferguson et al., 2007) or groundwaters (Fritz et al., 1987;Rock and Mayer, 2007) in western North America indicate postrainfall evaporation in the soils or water bodies of the respective watersheds. ...
... Isoscapes are a framework that describe the spatial patterns in isotopic ratios across a landscape and are useful for addressing a variety of basic and applied research questions (West et al., 2010;Bowen and Good, 2015). Stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen can be harnessed to determine source-water contributions to streamflow on a range of spatial and temporal scales (Rock and Mayer, 2007;Koeniger et al., 2009;Wang et al., 2009;Mountain et al., 2015), estimate mean transit times (McGuire et al., 2005;McGuire and McDonnell, 2006;Jasechko et al., 2016), delineate animal migration paths (Chamberlain et al., 1997;Hobson and Wassenaar, 1997), and understand hydrologic flow paths (Rodgers et al., 2005;Singh et al., 2016;Nickolas et al., 2017). Despite the widespread use of water isotope ratios in research and their potential application for predicting future flows under a changing climate or for identifying likely areas of cool water for fisheries management, few studies have compared drivers of variation in isotopic ratios at the basin scale or across basins. ...
The stable isotope ratios of stream water can be used to trace water sources within river basins; however, drivers of variation in water isotopic spatial patterns across basins must be understood before ecologically relevant and isotopically distinct water sources can be identified and this tool efficiently applied. We measured the isotope ratios of surface-water samples collected during summer low-flow across five basins in Washington and southeast Alaska (Snoqualmie, Green, Skagit, and Wenatchee Rivers, and Cowee Creek) and compared models (isoscapes) describing the spatial variation in surface-water isotope ratios across a range of hydraulic and climatic conditions. We found strong correlations between mean watershed (MWE) elevation and surface-water isotopic ratios on the windward west side of the Cascades and in Alaska, explaining 48-90% of variation in δ18O values. Conversely, in the Wenatchee basin, located leeward of the Cascade Range, MWE alone had no predicative power. The elevation relationship and predictive isoscapes varied between basins, even those adjacent to each other. Applying spatial stream network models (SSNMs) to the Snoqualmie and Wenatchee Rivers, we found incorporating Euclidean and flow-connected spatial autocovariance improved explanatory power. SSNMs improved the accuracy of river water isoscapes in all cases; however, their utility was greater for the Wenatchee basin, where covariates explained only a small proportion of total variation. Our study provides insights into why basinscale surface-water isoscapes may vary even in adjacent basins and the importance of incorporating spatial autocorrelation in isoscapes. For determining source water contributions to downstream waters, our results indicate that surface water isoscapes should be developed for each basin of interest.
... These studies generally observed a negative correlation between stable isotope composition and discharge anomalies, attributed to cold region seasonality. Whereas some studies conclude that low-flow regimes (dominated by prefreshet) correlate with low variability of δ 18 O (Smith et al., 2015), others have shown that low-flow regimes can illustrate high variability in isotopic composition due to evaporative effects upon summer baseflows (Mountain et al., 2015;Rock & Mayer, 2007;Yi et al., 2010). ...
Stable isotope tracers of δ18O and δ2H are increasingly being applied in the study of water cycling in regional‐scale watersheds in which human activities, like river regulation, are important influences. In 2015, δ18O and δ2H were integrated into a water quality survey in the Muskoka River Watershed with the aim to provide new regional‐scale characterization of isotope hydrology in the 5,100‐km2 watershed located on the Canadian Shield in central Ontario, Canada. The forest dominated region includes ~78,000 ha of lakes, 42 water control structures, and 11 generating stations, categorized as “run of river.” Within the watershed, stable isotope tracers have long been integrated into hydrologic process studies of both headwater catchments and lakes. Here, monthly surveys of δ18O and δ2H in river flow were conducted in the watershed between April 2015 and November 2016 (173 surface water samples from 10 river stations). Temporal patterns of stable isotopes in river water reflect seasonal influences of snowmelt and summer‐time evaporative fractionation. Spatial patterns, including differences observed during extreme flood levels experienced in the spring of 2016, reflect variation in source contributions to river flow (e.g., snowmelt or groundwater versus evaporatively enriched lake storage), suggesting more local influences (e.g., glacial outwash deposits). Evidence of combined influences of source mixing and evaporative fractionation could, in future, support application of tracer‐enabled hydrological modelling, estimation of mean transit times and, as such, contribute to studies of water quality and water resources in the region. In 2015–2016, stable isotope tracers of δ18O and δ2H were integrated into a water quality survey of the Muskoka River Watershed ON CA, providing characterization of stable isotopes across the ~5,100‐km2 regional‐scale watershed for the first time. Distinct labelling of source waters allows assessment of the influence of lake/wetland storage on streamflow as distinct from other sources (e.g., groundwater and snowmelt), including during extreme flows in the spring of 2016. Results also suggest local importance of groundwater connection from glacial deposits.
... The hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope is an effective indictor to provide essential information about water dynamic involved in precipitation, the transformation of snow to ice, and the runoff from glacier and snow (Dansgaard, 1964;Moser and Stichler, 1980;Rock and Mayer, 2007;Li et al., 2015). Table 2 (Yang et al., 2011). ...
There is little available information on hydrochemistry of waters from glacial source to downstream of glacierized catchments. Here we examine the water chemistry of the snowpacks, lakes and streams at eight sampling sites within glacial basin in Mt. Dagu, east Tibetan Plateau. An air mass trajectory model, correlation analysis, Gibbs model, Piper diagram and hydrograph separation analysis were utilized to investigate the characteristics and solutes sources of these waters. Generally, the TDS (Total dissolved solids; 7.54, 13.95 and 18.70mg/L for snowpacks, lakes and streams respectively) and concentrations of main chemicals in all samples exhibited downstream trend from snowpacks to streams. Of the cations, Ca(2+) appeared with the highest concentration followed by K(+) and Na(+). Of the anions, HCO3(-) was most abundant, followed by Cl(-), SO4(2-) and NO3(-). For snowpack samples, the air masses arriving at the sampling sites were typically prevailing from the western Tibet Plateau, central Asia and the northern Mongolia plateau. The fine particulate matter in the Mt. Dagu snowpacks was most likely transported long range from three arid regions above-mentioned. High concentrations of SO4(2-) and NH4(+) in snowpacks, with twice as much NH4(+) as SO4(2-), implying that the soluble part of the finer particles was transported as a form of ammonium sulfate. Rock weathering determined the ion components of the meltwater and the water could be classified as calcium and bicarbonate type based on the Piper diagram. The chemical contributions from glacier-snow meltwater were 20%-131% for lake and 5%-79% for stream, while the runoff contribution to lake varied from 65.4% to 84.9%, and 66.1% to 81.6% for stream. This study suggested that glacier-snow meltwater was the mainly runoff contributor to lake and stream water and that snowpack solutes derived from eolian additions exert a significant influence on lake and stream chemistry.
... Measuring d 18 O ratios provides insight into different sources of water contribution where more depleted (negative) d 18 O ratio indicates greater contributions from ice-snowmelt to runoff whereas more enriched (positive) d 18 O ratios indicates a greater contribution of precipitation (Welp et al. 2005 (Welp et al. 2005;Rock and Mayer 2007;Kuzyk et al. 2008;Wang et al. 2016;Fan et al. 2016). ...
The spring flood season in Northern aquatic systems is characterized by rapid changes in river discharge and fluxes of organic and inorganic species, yet remains under sampled. In this study, we examine the molecular characteristics and transformations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) during the Arctic spring season at three locations in the lower Churchill River watershed. Characteristics including dissolved organic carbon concentrations, optical properties (i.e. absorbance and, excitation-emission matrix fluorescence coupled with parallel factor analysis, EEM-PARAFAC) and molecular characterization using high resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) were assessed. As spring floods progressed, a significant reduction in DOM spectral slope (S275–295) and an increase in absorbance (a270) were observed suggesting an increase in DOM molecular weight and concentrations at all sampled locations. A maximum in HR-MS lignin-class compounds coincided with peak flow at all sampled locations, further validated with an increase in PARAFAC humic-like components and a minimum in S275–295. Principal component analyses revealed that both protein and aromatic humic-like material measured by HR-MS and EEM-PARAFAC, respectively, were significantly correlated (ANOVA, p < 0.05), demonstrating similarities in both techniques. Based on network analysis of HR-MS assigned formula, the highest peak flow day was characterized by a maximum in homologous DOM of C2H2O and C2H4 additions, suggesting structural similarities in newly deposited lignin and humic material. Overall, the progression of the spring freshet shifted the lower Churchill River watershed from an environment rich in proteins and lipids to an aquatic system more abundant in lignin, aromatic and humic DOM.
... rapid mobilisation of available phosphorus and nitrogen). The high precipitation combined with the steep hydrologic gradient imposed by the relief can produce substantial surface water flow (Rock and Mayer 2007). This may have rapidly transported the soluble forms of phosphorus and nitrogen into the receiving water body (Futalaufquen Lake), leading to a shorter duration of elevated concentrations of these nutrients. ...
In March-April 2015, the El Cristo fire burned 1228 ha of mixed Nothofagus forest in Los Alerces National Park (Argentine Patagonia). We compared physicochemical variables and community structure of burned and unburned headwater streams. Sampling began shortly after the fire was extinguished and comprised periodic water quality assessments and four visits to collect periphyton and invertebrate samples (May, August, October and December). Water temperature, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids and specific conductance were significantly higher in burned sites, whereas nutrient and oxygen concentrations exhibited no major differences. Chlorophyll a (used as a surrogate for autotrophic periphyton biomass) also did not differ significantly. Macroinvertebrate richness, abundance and diversity showed no differences across sites, but taxonomic composition and densities of sensitive taxa were markedly lower at burned streams. Oligochaetes and amphipods, however, were significantly more abundant in the disturbed reaches. Analysis of functional feeding groups revealed that the relative abundances of shredders and collector-filterers were lower at burned sites, possibly reflecting a shift in detrital input.
... For example, based on the isotopic values of river waters, significant spatial and temporal variations of the Xijiang River were investigated [26]; Kong et al. found that the snowmelt water accounted for more than 57% of runoff of the Kumalak River [1], and more than 53% during the wet season [6]. Based on isotopes and geochemical tracers, streams in plateau regions are mainly replenished by snowmelt and groundwater [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. There has been relatively little research on the composition and mechanism of water sources on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. ...
Climate change is affecting the discharge of headstreams from mountainous areas on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. To constrain future changes in discharge, it is important to understand the present-day formation mechanism and components of runoff in the basin. Here we explore the sources of runoff and spatial variations in discharge through measurements of δ2H and δ18O in the Naqu River, at the source of the Nu River, on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau, during the month of August from 2016 to 2018. We established thirteen sampling sites on the main stream and tributaries, and collected 39 samples from the river. We examined all the water samples and analyzed them for isotopes. We find a significant spatial variation trend based on one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (p < 0.05) between Main stream-2 and tributaries. The local meteoric water-line (LMWL) can be described as: δ2H = 7.9δ18O + 6.29. Isotopic evaporative fractionation in water and mixing of different water sources are responsible for the spatial difference in isotopic values between Main stream-2 and tributaries. Based on isotopic hydrograph separation, the proportion of snowmelt in runoff components ranges from 15% to 47%, and the proportion of rainwater ranges from 3% to 35%. Thus, the main components of runoff in the Naqu River are snowmelt and groundwater.
... Dutton et al. (2005) found that some river segments in the USA were dominated by snowmelt and had δ 18 O values more negative than local precipitation, whereas river water in arid regions was 18 O-enriched by evaporation. On the catchment scale, it was shown that stable isotope values increase downstream, i.e., with lower values in headwater regions and higher δ 18 O values in the lower catchment (Rank et al., 2018;Rock and Mayer, 2007), mainly a consequence of the altitude effect and evaporation along the length of the river (Lachniet et al., 2016;Wu et al., 2018). Hence, there are challenges in using stable isotopes to understand hydrological processes in river catchments because complex factors control the isotopic compositions of river water at the catchment scale. ...
... Spatial and temporal variations in hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions (δ 2 H and δ 18 O) could be attributed to equilibrium exchanges occurring at all phase transitions and kinetic isotopic fractionation during transformation from the ocean surface to the atmosphere, small rainfall amounts when rain drops fall below the cloud [9]. For example, ratios of stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen ( 2 H/ 1 H and 18 O/ 16 O) in river waters were measured to investigate the hydrological pathway of the Xijiang River, in southwest China [10]; groundwater was found to be caused principally by the mixing of rainfall and water stored before the event in the Meilin watershed [11]; δ 2 H and δ 18 O were used for evaluating the source of water [12][13][14][15] and exploring the interaction between surface water and groundwater [16][17][18][19] by using the change in isotopic composition due to evaporation or mixing by different waters. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has long been the focus of international academic concern because it possesses a unique high plateau climate and is very sensitive to global climate change and human activities. ...
The stable isotopic study of the mechanism of runoff replenishment in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a time-consuming and complicated process requiring complex monitoring data and scientific evaluation methods. Based on the data of water stable isotopes (18O and 2H) in the Naqu River basin, the present paper developed a framework of the variable fuzzy evaluation model (VFEM) to provide a method to classify stable isotopes and generalize the source identification of water replenishment by rainfall or snowmelt in the Naqu River basin. The grade eigenvalues of tributaries were ranked from low to high as follows: 1, 1.005, 1.089, 1.151, 1.264, 1.455 and 2.624. Three sets of tributaries were distinguished. The grade eigenvalues of the Najinqu, Bazongqu, Mumuqu, Chengqu and Gongqu Rivers were small, indicating that these tributaries were strongly supplemented by precipitation and snowmelt; the grade eigenvalue of the Zongqingqu River was in the medium range (1.455); the third group included the Mugequ River with a high status value (2.624). This study mainly highlighted the combination of the classification of stable isotopes and plots of δ2H vs. δ18O in the source identification of water replenishment, which will be helpful for studying runoff replenishment and the evolution mechanism in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Throughout the last few decades, sulfate concentrations in streamwater have received considerable attention due to their dominant role in anthropogenic acidification of surface waters. The objectives of this study conducted in the Oldman River Basin in Alberta (Canada) were to determine the influence of geology, land use and anthropogenic activities on sources, concentrations and fluxes of riverine sulfate on a watershed scale. This was achieved by combining hydrological, chemical and isotopic techniques. Surface water samples were collected from the main stem and tributaries of the Oldman River on a monthly basis between December 2000 and March 2003 and analyzed for chemical and isotopic compositions. At a given sampling site, sulfate sources were primarily dependent on geology and did not vary with time or flow condition. With increasing flow distance a gradual shift from δ34S values > 10‰ and δ18O values > 0‰ of riverine sulfate indicating evaporite dissolution and soil-derived sulfate in the predominantly forested headwaters, to negative δ34S and δ18O values suggested that sulfide oxidation was the predominant sulfate source in the agriculturally used downstream part of the watershed. Significant increases in sulfate concentrations and fluxes with downstream distance were observed, and were attributed to anthropogenically enhanced sulfide oxidation due to the presence of an extensive irrigation drainage network with seasonally varying water levels. Sulfate-S exports in an artificially drained subbasin (64 kg S/ha/yr) were found to exceed those in a naturally drained subbasin (4 kg S/ha/yr) by an order of magnitude. Our dataset suggests that the naturally occurring process of sulfide oxidation has been enhanced in the Oldman River Basin by the presence of an extensive network of drainage and irrigation canals.
Contamination of shallow groundwater by from manure may occur under fields where manure is spread as fertilizer and for disposal. Attenuation of in groundwater occurs through denitrification under certain conditions, or -contaminated younger groundwater may mix with older groundwater, lowering the concentration. In this study, δ15N and δ18O values of , and δ18O and δ2H values in groundwater under a manured field were evaluated to determine if groundwater concentrations were influenced through mixing of shallower, manure-impacted groundwater with older groundwater, or if denitrification was reducing concentrations. The younger groundwater showed clear evidence of manure impact with elevated Cl− (∼85 mg L−1) and concentrations (∼50 mg NO3–N L−1), and δ15N and δ18O values of consistent with a manure source. Vertical hydraulic gradients and δ18O and δ2H values in groundwater suggest older, more reduced groundwater is upwelling locally and mixing with the shallow groundwater. Decreasing NO3:Cl ratios, decreasing dissolved O2 concentrations, and increasing δ15N and δ18O values of suggest that denitrification occurs locally in the aquifer. The extent of denitrification is proportional to the fraction of deeper groundwater in the aquifer. Denitrification apparently does not proceed in the younger, manure-impacted groundwater in the absence of mixing.
Determining how water sources for rivers vary over time can greatly enhance our understanding and management of land use and climate change impacts on rivers. Because the stable isotope composition of precipitation can vary geographically, variation in the stable isotope composition of river water may be able to identify source water dynamics. We monitored the stable isotope values (delta O-18 and delta H-2) of river and stream water within the southern Willamette River Basin in western Oregon over two years. Within this basin, eighty-four percent of the isotopic variation in small tributary streams was explained by the mean elevation of the catchments, whereas seasonal variation was minimal. However, water within the Willamette River had distinct isotopic seasonal patterns that likely occurred because of changes in the mean elevation of source water for the river. River isotopic values were lowest during summer low flow and highest during February/March when snow accumulated in the mountains. We estimated that the mean elevation of the source water for the Willamette River shifted over 700 m, seasonally. During winter when rain occurred in the valley and snow accumulated in the mountains, the river reflected a mixture of low mountains and valley bottom precipitation. During the dry Mediterranean summer, 60-80% of the river water came from the snow zone above 1200 m, which is only 12% of the land area and accounts for 15.6% of the annual precipitation within the Willamette Basin. This high elevation area contains the High Cascades geological region with highly permeable bedrock that sustains late-summer baseflow compared to the Western Cascades with low permeable bedrock. Reliance on high-elevation water during summer low flow highlights the vulnerability of this system to influences of a warming climate, where snowpacks in the Cascade Mountains are predicted to decrease in the future.
Highlights
► Relationships between water resources of the Okanagan Valley remain poorly defined. ► Stable isotopes were used to characterize rainfall, rivers and lakes, and ground water resources. ► Precipitation isotopes resulted in a local meteoric water line of δD = 6.6 (δ18O) − 22.7 for the Okanagan. ► Isotopic mass-balance modeling suggested ∼35% of precipitation falling upon the watershed is lost to evaporation. ► Ground water in the valley aquifers is anthropogenically recharged by irrigation water from the Okanagan River.
Runoff generation and dynamics is an important issue in watershed and water resource management, but the mechanism in large scale is unclear and site-dependent. For this reason, spatial variations of δD and δ18O of river water and their sources within large-area of the Heishui Valley of the upper Yangtze River in western China were investigated during the wet season. A total 117 river water samples were collected at 13 sampling sites located at the junction of the principal river course and its tributaries. The results showed no spatial variations of either δD or δ18O values existed among tributary sampling sites A, B, E, F, H and I during the wet season, and significantly spatial variation occurred between tributary sampling sites A, B, E, F, H, I and site K; which indicated different proportions of rain entering river water should lead to spatial variation of water isotopes. The hydrograph separation analysis, based on the isotope data of river water, meltwater and rain water samples, showed the contribution of snow and glacier meltwater varied from 63.8% to 92.6%, and that of rain varied from 7.4% to 36.2%; which meant that snow and glacier meltwater was the main supplying water source of baseflow in the Heishui Valley. And the roles of glacier and snow meltwater should be significantly noticed in water resource management in this alpine valley at the rim of the Tibetan Plateau.
Soils comprise a critical interface between the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere, and play a major role in the cycling of nitrogen (N), an element crucial to plant growth. Isotope techniques constitute a powerful tool to study the origin and fate of N compounds (e.g. NO3−) within the environment including soils. The objective of our study was to test the usefulness of the isotope composition of soil NO3− extracted with 2 M KCl (soil NO3) as a tool to investigate the origin and fate of NO3− in the environment. Specifically issues related to repeat extractions, crop type, length of fertilization, and soil depth were addressed. Soils from four contrasting agricultural management regimes were sampled. Within the relatively confined study area (4 ha), the isotopic compositions of soil NO3 differed markedly due to management treatments (up to 6 and 17‰ for δ15N and δ18O, respectively), but were repeatable among replicate plots (±1‰). Differences in both δ15N and δ18O values were observed between legume and non-legume treatments, as well as fertilized versus non-fertilized treatments, which were larger than the variability observed between replicate plots. Differences in the isotopic composition of extractable soil nitrate were not limited to the surface layer, but also occurred within deeper soil layers. This study indicates that the analysis of the natural abundance stable isotope composition of soil NO3 may provide a promising additional tool for tracing the origin and fate of NO3− in the soil zone.
Both the temperature and the precipitation in China's arid northwestern zone have increased, eliciting corresponding changes in hydrological processes in the region's inland basins. This chapter analyzes the characteristics of runoff and its components, the main findings are: (1) Runoff increased significantly at stations around the Tianshan Mountains. (2) The digital filtering method was used to separate baseflow from surface flow, after which the baseflow index (BFI) was calculated and analyzed. We find that baseflows of the four headstreams have increased considerably over the past 50 years. The baseflow and BFI showed obvious seasonal variations: The lowest baseflow and BFI typically occurred in December and January, and both increased gradually until reaching maximum values in August or July. And precipitation had a significant impact on runoff, whereas temperature strongly affected baseflow. In addition, in the Tizinafu River, the contribution of ice/snowmelt water varied from 25.96 to 68.87∈% for spatial characteristics, and from 28.31 to 65.43∈% for seasonal characteristics. The mean of the ice/snowmelt percentage is 43∈%, which meant that ice/snowmelt water was the main supplying water source. (3) Using the data from 1960 to 2010, future runoff amounts were predicted. Some results can be concluded as follows: Runoff in the Aksu, Yarkand, and Hotan rivers will be low in 2010-2011 but will experience continued growth in 2017-2028. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights are reserved.
Hailuogou (HLG) River and Huangbengliu (HBL) Gulley are typical alpine glacial and nonglacial rivers in Mount Gongga China, respectively. To differentiate distinct hydrologic regimes of the two rivers, δ18O and δ2H were measured on 196 water samples collected almost monthly from May 2008 to December 2009. The results indicate that: (i) the measured isotopic data show that stream water is overall isotopically more enriched in 2H and 18O than ice-snow meltwater but more depleted than precipitation and ground water; (ii) these data also suggest that stream flow is generally more dominated by ice-snow meltwater in HLG River than in HBL Gulley; (iii) δ2H/δ18O relationship suggests that isotopic composition of precipitation is well preserved in stream flow, and evaporation is only minor in both HBL Gulley and HLG River; (iv) this study highlights that ice-snow meltwater is a substantially important water source in alpine regions on south-eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau.
Water is one of the critical resources in the agenda of promoting sustainability. Yet, among all the observed natural and anthropogenic adversities, water-related disasters appear as the most recurrent which hinder sustainable socioeconomic development goals. Climate change, urban expansion, deforestation and increase in population are thought to be the main factors of water-related disasters. Considering those factors, understanding the hydrologic balance of watersheds and the impact that nature and humanity impose on regional ecosystem becomes one of the important research priorities. This paper reviews the applications of stable isotopes in hydrological studies for catchment management. Advancements in isotope research (origin, flow paths, residence times and water budget), has led to new frontiers in palaeoclimatology and palaeohydrology studies. Future applications hold promise to recognise the patterns of modern and ancient isotopic signatures within ecosystems and provide useful information in understanding potential natural hazards, thus complementing sustainable watershed management.
Interaction between surface water and groundwater is one of the important factors in hydrological cycle. In this paper, the last 10-year research trends of interaction between surface water and groundwater are reviewed based on the number of articles of scientific journals, the locations of study sites and classification of research methods. The environmental tracer-based method, which can provide hydrological information and understanding of interaction between surface water and groundwater as well as hydrometric observation and model-based analysis, is characterized by the choice of tracers and the scales of study sites. The review shows that many environmental tracers have been used for investigating the interaction at regional and watershed scales. On the other hands, the studies focusing on interaction at the local scale such as hyporheic and riparian zones are increasing since the 2000s. Future works need widespread investigations using environmental tracers at different hydrological settings or sites, field demonstrations of new tracers, and establishment of the technique to select and apply adequate tracers over a range of spatial and temporal scales in order to help explain the complex hydrological processes of interaction between surface water and groundwater.
The Caohai Wetland serves as an important ecosystem on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau and as a nationally important nature reserve for migratory birds in China. In this study, surface water, groundwater and wetland water were collected for the measurement of environmental isotopes to reveal the seasonal variability of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes (δ18O, δD), sources of water, and groundwater inflow fluxes. Results showed that surface water and groundwater are of meteoric origin. The isotopes in samples of wetland water were well mixed vertically in seasons of both high-flow (September) and low-flow (April); however, marked seasonal and spatial variations were observed. During the high-flow season, the isotopic composition in surface wetland water varied from −97.13 to −41.73‰ for δD and from −13.17 to −4.70‰ for δ18O. The composition of stable isotopes in the eastern region of this wetland was lower than in the western region. These may have been influenced by uneven evaporation caused by the distribution of aquatic vegetation. During the low-flow season, δD and δ18O in the more open water with dead aquatic vegetation ranged from −37.11 to −11.77‰, and from −4.25 to −0.08‰, respectively. This may result from high evaporation rates in this season with the lowest atmospheric humidity. Groundwater fluxes were calculated by mass transfer and isotope mass balance approaches, suggesting that the water sources of the Caohai Wetland were mainly from groundwater in the high-flow season, while the groundwater has a smaller contribution to wetland water during the low-flow season.
The impacts of large-scale land disturbance by wildfire on a wide range of water and related ecological services are increasingly being recognized worldwide. This study explores the long-term impact (6-7 years) of the 2003 Lost Creek wildfire on particulate phosphorus forms (NA1P, AP, OP) of suspended river sediment at a large regional scale (554 km2) in the Crowsnest River basin, Alberta, Canada. While total P concentrations were similar among burned and unburned river sediments, the mean bioavailable NAIP fraction remained approximately 70% greater and the organic P over 2-fold higher in sediments from five burned tributary watersheds compared to the reference site in the Crowsnest River study catchment. Because of the key role of phosphorus in regulating aquatic productivity in oligotrophic mountain rivers, these findings highlight the risk of a large scale and long-term legacy of wildfire in some mountain river systems.
Multiple water sources and the physiographic heterogeneity of glacierized catchments hamper a complete conceptualization of runoff response to meltwater dynamics. In this study, we used environmental tracers (stable isotopes of water and electrical conductivity) to obtain new insight into the hydrology of glacierized catchments, using the Saldur River catchment, Italian Alps, as a pilot site. We analysed the controls on the spatial and temporal patterns of the tracer signature in the main stream, its selected tributaries, shallow groundwater, snowmelt and glacier melt over a three-year period. We found that stream water electrical conductivity and isotopic composition showed consistent patterns in snowmelt-dominated periods whereas the streamflow contribution of glacier melt altered the correlations between the two tracers. By applying two- and three-component mixing models we quantified the seasonally-variable proportion of groundwater, snowmelt and glacier melt at different locations along the stream. We provided four model scenarios based on different tracer signature of the end-members: the highest contributions of snowmelt to streamflow occurred in late spring-early summer and ranged between 70 % and 79 %, according to different scenarios, whereas the largest inputs by glacier melt were observed in mid-summer, and ranged between 57 % and 69 %. In addition to the identification of the main sources of uncertainty, we demonstrated how a careful sampling design is critical in order to avoid underestimation of the meltwater component in streamflow. These results supported the development of a conceptual model of streamflow response to meltwater dynamics in the Saldur catchment likely valid for other glacierized catchments worldwide.
Precipitation infiltration and evaporation are the main controlling factors on soil water content (SWC) in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). However, the temporal and spatial variations of soil water in the CLP are still unclear. Here, we investigate the stable isotope compositions (δ18O and δD) of soil water for five different vegetation cover types in the central CLP, to trace the dynamics and movement mechanisms of soil water. Our results show that the depth of precipitation infiltration is approximately 120 cm in five different vegetation cover types under natural rainfall conditions throughout the year. The rapid 18O-enrichment of shallow (<30 cm depth) soil water, which is observed in all profiles, indicates that the evaporation effect mainly occurs in the shallow layer. The δ18O isotope dynamic pattern between 30 and 120 cm depth is probably controlled by the precipitation infiltration characteristics at a mean annual precipitation of 572.4 mm. In contrast, deep (>120 cm depth) soil water is in a steady state in our study period, which suggest that the residence times of this water can be several months or more. Although the vegetation cover types can affect the profile dynamics of δ18O, we find that variations in seasonal precipitation are the key factor that influences the profile dynamics of δ18O, which is attributed to the large differences in the climate parameters and the frequency of rainfall. We suggest that δ18O is more sensitive in tracing the precipitation infiltration depth and recharge mechanisms of soil water than the soil water content. Further observation over a much longer time scale and an combination of both the oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions of soil water in the CLP would provide more insight into role of isotopic techniques in tracing the soil water cycle.
Stable isotope variability and fractionation associated with transformation of precipitation/accumulation to firn to glacial river water is critical in a variety of climatic, hydrological and paleoenvironmental studies. This paper documents the modification of stable isotopes in water from precipitation to glacier runoff in an alpine catchment located in the central Tibetan Plateau. Isotopic changes are observed by sampling firnpack profiles, glacier surface snow/ice, meltwater on the glacier surface and catchment river water at different times during a melt season. Results show the isotopic fractionation effects associated with glacier melt processes. The slope of the δD-δ18O regression line and the deuterium excess values decreased from the initial precipitation to the melt-impacted firnpack (slope from 9.3 to 8.5 and average d-excess from 13.4‰ to 7.4‰). The slope of the δD-δ18O line further decreased to 7.6 for the glacier runoff water. The glacier surface snow/ice from different locations, which produces the main runoff, had the same δD-δ18O line slope but lower deuterium excess (by 3.9‰) compared to values observed in the firnpack profile during the melt season. The δD-δ18O regression line for the river water exhibited a lower slope compared to the surface snow/ice samples, although they were closely located on the δD-δ18O plot. Isotope values for the river and glacier surface meltwater showed little scatter around the δD-δ18O regression line, although the samples were from different glaciers and were collected on different days. Results indicate a high consistency of isotopic fractionation in the δD-δ18O relationships, as well as a general consistency and temporal covariation of meltwater isotope values at the catchment scale. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The stable isotope-mass balance method can provide useful water balance information in ungauged catchments. The method has been used to evaluate evaporation and water balance at two contrasting sites in northern Canada. Areally weighted evaporative discharge from an 850 km2 tundra catchment in south-central District of Keewatin is estimated to be about 7 % of total water discharge (≈ 16 mm/yr), compared to about 19 % (≈ 65 mm/yr) from a 300 km2 forested watershed in the Upper Mackenzie Valley. Lakes in both watersheds exhibit broad ranges of evaporation/inflow ratios related to local water balance. The potential errors in the estimates are evaluated through consideration of possible variations in basin storage, humidity, and the isotopic composition of atmospheric vapour.
The concept of desertification was first used in the 1950s to describe the spreading of subtropical deserts. It became a global environmental issue following drought and famine in northern Africa in the late 1960s. In this context, desertification can seem like strong language to apply to the problem of land degradation in western Canada. Yet the current definition of desertification, "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry/sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human impact," applies to the sub-humid mixed grassland of southwestern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta, an area of about 200,000 km2 . Extensive conversion of prairie to agricultural land from 1900 to the 1920s was followed by regional degradation in the 1930s. This precipitated major adjustments to soil and crop management and the creation of a national agency to rehabilitate prairie farms and farming practices. Widespread soil conservation was implemented first following the dust bowl of the 1930s, and methods of zero and minimum tillage were introduced in the past several decades. This history of adaptation to drought and degradation demonstrates that the producers and institutions have considerable capacity to prevent desertification, but the risk persists and may increase as the result of global warming. In this article we examine the changing risk of desertification with climate change, with an emphasis on increased aridity and the greater probability of sustained drought.
Historical development of nonlinear stochastic modeling of streamflows is discussed. Physical considerations and graphical investigations of daily streamflows revealed that air temperature and state of basin storage are the most important sources of nonlinearity in catchments with seasonal snow accumulation. The average temperature for the preceding three days, and the flow one or two days earlier were adequate proxies for the temperature and storage conditions of a catchment. The Nested Threshold Autoregressive (NeTAR) model, which considers these sources of nonlinearity simultaneously, was applied to two years of daily flows of the Oldman River near Brocket in Alberta, Canada. A third year of daily data was used for validating the model. The final NeTAR model provided useful insights into the dynamics of this streamflow system.
High perched water table conditions, typically at depths between one and 2.5 metres, have created problems, including the increased occurrence of slope failures along nearby coulees for the city and the University of Lethbridge maintenance engineers. The source of water leading to the development of water tables in this region was determined to be over-irrigation of urban turfgrass. Water table development in the Lethbridge region is related to high turfgrass infiltration rates and high volumes of water received in till of low hydraulic conductivity. A statistical relationship was observed between the logarithm of water percolating beyond the root zone and water table depth.
The stable isotope-mass balance method can provide useful water balance information in ungauged catchments. The method has been used to evaluate evaporation and water balance at two contrasting sites in northern Canada. Areally weighted evaporative discharge from an 850 km2 tundra catchment in south-central District of Keewatin is estimated to be about 7 % of total water discharge (= 16 mmlyr), compared to about 19 % (= 65 mmlyr) from a 300 km2 forested watershed in the Upper Mackenzie Valley. Lakes in both watersheds exhibit broad ranges of evaporation/inflow ratios related to local water ba- lance. The potential errors in the estimates are evaluated through considera- tion of possible variations in basin storage, humidity, and the isotopic composi- tion of atmospheric vapour.
1] Regional variations in evaporation losses and water budget are interpreted from systematic isotopic patterns in surface waters across a 275,000 km 2 region of northern Canada. Differential heavy isotope enrichment in a set of >255 nonheadwater lakes sampled by floatplane during 1993 and 1994 is strongly correlated to varying hydroclimatic conditions across the region. Calculated catchment-weighted evaporation losses typically range from $10–15% in tundra areas draining into the Arctic Ocean to as high as 60% in forested subarctic areas draining to the Mackenzie River via Great Bear or Great Slave Lakes. Because of the diversity in drainage order and the ratio of catchment to surface area, lakes in the region may inherit as little as 30% to as much as 99% of their isotopic enrichment signal from upstream water bodies. Open-water evaporation generally decreases with increasing latitude and accounts for 5–50% of total evapotranspiration. Coupling of meteorological and isotopic data permits a novel assessment of regional evaporation-transpiration flux partitioning in the three major ecoclimatic zones (high-boreal forest, subarctic forest-tundra, and low-arctic shrub tundra), while the differing frequency distributions of lake water balance in these zones provides a new index of landscape-scale hydroclimatology that may have significant potential for investigating ongoing (or past) changes in response to high-latitude climate change.
An overview of current research in isotope hydrology, focusing on recent Canadian contributions, is discussed under the headings: precipitation networks, hydrograph separation and groundwater studies, river basin hydrology, lake and catchment water balance, and isotope palaeohydrology from lake sediment records. Tracer-based techniques, relying primarily on the naturally occurring environmental isotopes, have been integrated into a range of hydrological and biogeochemical research programmes, as they effectively complement physical and chemical techniques. A significant geographic focus of Canadian isotope hydrology research has been on the Mackenzie River basin, forming contributions to programmes such as the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment. Canadian research has also directly supported international efforts such as the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation and IAEAs Coordinated Research Project on Large River Basins. One significant trend in Canadian research is toward sustained long-term monitoring of precipitation and river discharge to enable better characterization of spatial and temporal variability in isotope signatures and their underlying causes. One fundamental conclusion drawn from previous studies in Canada is that combined use of δ18O and δ2H enables the distinction of precipitation variability from evaporation effects, which offers significant advantages over use of the individual tracers alone. The study of hydrological controls on water chemistry is one emerging research trend that stems from the unique ability to integrate isotope sampling within both water quality and water quantity surveys. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The total dissolved load of the Rhine river increases downstream due to the combined impact of natural and pollution loads. The natural background, controlled by geology, is soon swamped by pollution, particularly from salt and coal mining activities in Alsace and the Ruhr area. The Rhine is also a net source of CO2 from oxidation of excess organic productivity that is fuelled by nutrient pollution, a problem even more serious for some of its tributaries.
The Rocky Mountain region near the Canada–United States border provides the North American hydrographic apex with headwater streams flowing to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans. The area contains numerous national parks and protected areas with relatively pristine watersheds that permit analyses of historic streamflow patterns with minimal human impacts that would alter hydraulic linkages between precipitation and river discharge. Consequently, we analyzed patterns of mean annual discharge (Qa) from 31 river reaches that were generally free-flowing with hydrologic records typically commencing in the 1910s and extending to about 2002. To maximize the records of six rivers we undertook regression analyses to extrapolate Qa from sequential hydrometric gauges or from early, summer-only Q data. Spearman ρ and Kendall τ b non-parametric correlations and a parametric approach involving linear regressions combined with analyses of variance were highly consistent in detecting significant historic trends in Qa and the regression analyses estimated the trend magnitudes. These analyses revealed flow declines (exceeding 0.1%/year over the historic record) for 21 reaches (5 with p<0.1, 10 with p<0.05), while 10 rivers displayed little change (<0.1%/year and not significant). Flow declines were prominent for the Alberta rivers, which flow to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean, and also observed for some Pacific and Atlantic drainages. Overall, the rivers displayed a mean Qa reduction of 0.22%/year (median=−0.17%/year) and four rivers had recent decline rates exceeding 0.5%/year. The progressive decline was superimposed on an approximately half-century oscillation in streamflow that was strongly associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Following from the observed river flow decline over the past century, it is likely that there will be continuing decline in future decades; this prediction contrasts with many current climate change forecasts. Historic and continuing reductions in these streamflows will impact aquatic and riparian ecosystems and diminish water supplies for irrigation, industrial and domestic use, and hydroelectric power generation, with effects extending from these mountain headwaters downstream through other ecoregions.
stable isotope analysis
deuterium
hydrogen
groundwater
surface water
source
Five carbonaceous chondrites (including the CI chondrites Orgueil and
Ivuna) were analyzed by spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS) for the
platinum-group elements Ru, Rh, Os, Ir, Pt, as well as W, Re, An, Th,
and U. Conventional photoplate detection and a recently developed
multi-ion counting system were used for ion detection. Results obtained
for CI chondrites agree with compiled values within 6%. This study
contains the first Rh analyses for this chondrite group. Rhodium
concentrations for Orgueil and Ivuna agree well, implying a Solar System
abundance of 0.140 ± 0.004 ppm and corresponding to 0.359
± 0.010 atoms relative to 1 × 10 6 Si atoms.
Concentrations in CM2, CV3, and CK4 chondrites are enriched compared to
those of CI chondrites. However, the abundances of the refractory
siderophile elements Re, Os, Ir with condensation temperatures above
1600 K (at 10 -4 atm) are higher by about 15-20% compared to the less
refractory elements Ru, Pt, and Rh. Elements with similar condensation
temperatures correlate very well resulting in uniform concentration
ratios of Rh/Pt = 0.136 ± 0.006, Re/Os = 0.0821 ± 0.0019,
and Ir/Os = 0.949 ± 0.039.
Hydrogeologic and isotopic investigations were conducted on thick profiles of clayey glacial till at three study areas in the Interior Plains Region of southern Alberta, Canada. The till consists of an upper weathered zone (9 to 18 m thick) and a lower nonweathered zone (10 to 30 m thick). The presence of tritiated ground water at depths of up to 5 m below the water table in the weathered zones shows that the upper part of the weathered zone is hydrogeologically active. Interpretation of hydraulic head and hydraulic conductivity data, indicates that vertical seepage velocities in the nonweathered till zones range from 2 to 6 m per 1000 years. Calculated lateral ground-water velocities in the till zones are only about 9 m per 1000 years, and it is concluded that most of the ground water recharging the weathered till zone is returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. Oxygen-18 and deuterium analyses of ground-water samples for the weathered till zones support this conclusion.
The stable isotope composition of water (δD and δ18O) and chloride concentrations were measured monthly at 26 stations along the River Murray, Australia and several major tributaries from December 1988 to June 1989. The first four months had low natural runoff plus large irrigation diversions from storage reservoirs. The following three months had much higher (up to a factor of 5) river discharge. Deuterium and oxygen 18 compositions had a maximum range of 50‰ and 9‰, respectively, from headwaters to mouth. Chloride concentrations increased downstream with a maximum range from 1 to 180 × 10−3 kg m−3. These trends can be attributed to (1) evaporation from storage facilities and river channels, (2) inflows of irrigation drainage water enriched in heavy isotopes, and (3) inflows of saline groundwater. Water losses by evaporation from the river surface and irrigation areas amounted to about 40 ± 15% of releases from reservoir storage, based on the integrated enrichment of deuterium, which is comparable to the total transpiration flux within the basin. About half of the chloride acquired by the Murray as it traversed the middle third of the basin during summer months appears to have resulted from return flows of irrigation drainage water.
Snowmelt runoff from alpine areas is the primary source of streamflow and water supply in western North America. Increasingly, questions about the impacts of global climate change on watershed yield are being asked. This paper is a forecast of expected changes to runoff for two key rivers in western North America. The paper develops and applies linkages between historical and general circulation model (GCM) upper air circulation patterns deemed to control winter precipitation in the northern Rocky Mountain states and southern Alberta. Historical and 1×CO2 GCM upper airflow conditions are quite similar, but there are substantive variations in the GCM 2×CO2 upper airflows. Relative occurrence (dominance) of historical synoptic patterns is statistically linked to historical spring runoff for the Oldman and Colorado Rivers. These linkages are used to forecast variation in the future runoff on the basis of variations in synoptic pattern statistics for the 2×CO2 GCM upper airflow patterns.
A new technique for the sample preparation, directly coupled to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) for D/H determination, is described. The method is suitable for the preparation of fresh and saline waters as well as different organic compounds (gaseous or liquid). One microliter of water or hydrogen equivalent is injected and reduced by means of chromium metal in a specially designed reaction furnace, and then the hydrogen gas flows directly into the IRMS to be analyzed by standard/sample comparison. The reproducibility is about 1‰. The accuracy of this method is confirmed by analysis of IAEA standard waters VSMOW, GISP, and SLAP. All aqueous samples including liquid food samples as well as methane gas were injected as original compounds and directly measured without any preparation.
A 1-10 mg portion of water is reduced with Zn metal in a sealed tube at 450 °C to prepare hydrogen for isotopic analysis. After reaction the tube is attached directly to the mass spectrometer without further processing. Replicate analyses of water samples give reproducibility of 0.2-0.4% (1sigma); fluid inclusion samples, 1.9%; and water of hydration of gypsum, released and reduced in the sealed tube, 1.1%. A batch of 10 samples can be prepared in 1 h.
Recent advances in on-line metal [U, Mn, Cr] reduction systems for the automated analysis of δDVSMOW in water and organic solvents greatly increases sample throughput. However, several sources of uncertainty are inherent in these systems, including analytical reproducibility, fractionation of reference gas in the inlet system, and memory effects, as well as error introduced during data normalization that must be quantified. A careful consideration of these sources of uncertainty suggests that accuracy to <1‰ may be difficult to achieve due to the combined effects of analytical error and uncertainty in the calibration of secondary laboratory standards. However, for internally consistent data sets, it may be possible to measure relative differences between samples at the ∼0.5‰ level or below. In addition to describing methods for data reduction, strategies for minimizing and managing uncertainty are presented along with a recipe for greatly increasing reactor life in Cr-reduction systems. Increased reactor life reduces consumable costs by a factor of 10. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Short-term (0.5–3 d) precipitation samples were collected from January 1992 to December 2001 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the stable isotope ratios of hydrogen (2H/1H) and oxygen (18O/16O) for these samples were determined. The 10-yr amount-weighted average δ2H and δ18O values of precipitation were −136.1‰ and −17.9‰, respectively. Consistent with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) established practice, the following local meteoric water line (LMWL) for Calgary was derived using amount-weighted monthly average δ2H and δ18O values: δ2H = 7.68 δ18O −0.21 (r2= 0.96, n= 104). The correlation equation between δ2H and δ18O values from individual samples was found to be δ2H = 7.10 δ18O −13.64 (r2= 0.95, n= 839), which is different from the LMWL, exhibiting lower slope and intercept values. A comparison of δ2H and δ18O correlation equations with temperature during precipitation events showed a trend of decreasing slopes and intercepts with increasing temperature. Our data suggest that this is caused by incorporation of moisture derived from evaporation from water bodies and soils along the storm paths and by secondary evaporation between the cloud base and the ground during precipitation events. These processes compromise the usefulness of d-excess values as an indicator for the meteorological conditions in the maritime source regions. The δ18O temperature dependence at Calgary was found to be ∼ 0.44‰°C−1. The study shows that short-term sampling of individual precipitation events yields valuable information, which is not obtainable by the widely used monthly collection programs.
River, ground water, and snow samples were collected in the Truckee river drainage basin in northern California and Nevada to determine the mechanisms of bank storage. Lake Tahoe, the source for the Truckee river, has a σD of −57 and of −5.5. These compositions are more enriched than the average local precipitation, calculated to be −117 in σD and −15.8 in , due to continued evaporation during the long residence time of the water in the lake. Thus, Lake Tahoe water can be easily recognized allowing for easy tracing as bank storage.An enrichment threshold value was developed to explain the stable isotopic ratios observed in the Truckee river. The σD value of −85 was determined as being the threshold value, below which evaporation can explain the isotopic composition observed in the Truckee river, and above which the presence of Lake Tahoe water is required. There does not appear to be a direct relationship between the σD value of the Truckee river and the discharge to the river from Lake Tahoe, at least in the upper reaches of the basin. The rise in σD of the river to a value similar to that of the lake appears to move progressively upstream and is thought to be related to the discharge of the bank-stored Lake Tahoe water.
The questions that we ask as scientists shape everything that follows. They can lead us to see the world in new ways, or mundane ones. They can spur the development of new approaches, or the recycling of established ones. They can focus our attention in useful directions, or leave us wandering aimlessly. In science, as in everything else, what you find will largely depend on what you were looking for. Thus, sometimes one can be helpful simply by framing questions, even if-or especially if-the answers are not yet clear. My purpose here is to identify questions that I hope will be productive ones. I make no pretence of presenting answers. These questions have emerged from long hours pondering hydrochemical data like those shown in Figures 1 and 2. The same kinds of data have also been pondered by many others in our community, so I make no particular claim of originality for the observations that follow. I simply hope that presenting these observations in the following way may prove useful.
Reconstruction of continental palaeoclimate and palaeohydrology is currently hampered by limited information about isotopic patterns in the modern hydrologic cycle. To remedy this situation and to provide baseline data for other isotope hydrology studies, more than 4800, depth- and width-integrated, stream samples from 391 selected sites within the USGS National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) and Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN) were analysed for δ¹⁸O and δ²H (http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/ofr/ofr00-160/pdf/ofr00-160.pdf). Each site was sampled bimonthly or quarterly for 2·5 to 3 years between 1984 and 1987. The ability of this dataset to serve as a proxy for the isotopic composition of modern precipitation in the USA is supported by the excellent agreement between the river dataset and the isotopic compositions of adjacent precipitation monitoring sites, the strong spatial coherence of the distributions of δ¹⁸O and δ²H, the good correlations of the isotopic compositions with climatic parameters, and the good agreement between the ‘national’ meteoric water line (MWL) generated from unweighted analyses of samples from the 48 contiguous states of δ²H=8·11δ¹⁸O+8·99 (r²=0·98) and the unweighted global MWL of sites from the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of δ²H=8·17δ¹⁸O+10·35.
Stable isotopes of water were used to determine the hydrology of, and estimate the volume of groundwater discharge to, Bishop Creek in east-central California. The headwaters of the creek originate from three reservoirs at 2190–2975 m above sea level. Most of the water in Bishop Creek is diverted through a series of five hydroelectric power plants, resulting in streamflow that is less than that under natural conditions.The hydrogen isotopic composition of snow cores collected during this study ranges between − 189 and − 139‰, and is more depleted than that of either the local ground water (δD between − 137 and − 127‰) or the tributary streams (δD between − 139 and − 126‰) flowing into the upper reservoirs. The similar isotopic ratios of the local ground water and the small tributary streams flowing into the upper basin reservoirs indicate that the water collected from the upper basin tributaries originated as local ground water.The δD values of the upper basin reservoirs range from − 126 to − 112‰. Owing to evaporation, these values are more enriched than the δD values of the tributary waters, local winter snow and ground water. This stable isotopic difference, coupled with the diversion for hydroelectric power, allows an excellent opportunity to determine the locations of groundwater discharge, and, using an isotopic mass-balance method, measure that discharge to Bishop Creek.
A number of marine water and fresh water samples were examined for the relative ratio, and the variation of this ratio was determined to a precision of ± 0.1%. In the case of surface marine waters, for a range of salinity of 29.40%., the O16 content varies over a range of approximately 6%. The low ratios were obtained from surface marine waters contaminated with meltwater from the ice fields, while the marine waters of high salinity were richest in O18. The observed relation between O18 content and salinity of the oceanic waters can be explained by a process of multiple stage distillation which produces a continuous loss of fresh water to the ice regions from the surface waters of the warm oceans. The lower salinities of cold ocean currents, such as the Alaskan and Californian currents, are due primarily to mixing with meltwater from cold regions. The effect of glaciation upon the isotopic method of measuring paleotemperatures is discussed. The results for deep oceanic samples and for non-typical water samples are also discussed.
A mass spectrometric method for the accurate determination of the hydrogen-deuterium ratio has been developed. It is possible to determine this ratio to ± 0.10% using material of “normal abundance”, i.e., 1 part D in 6700 parts H. Samples as small as 0.1 mg H2 (0.001 ml H2O) can be run. Natural evaporation and condensation that have been shown to fractionate the oxygen isotopes also fractionate the hydrogen isotopes. The ratio of these two fractionations is equal to the ratio between the ratios of the vapour pressures of and of .Ocean waters range from 0.0153 to 0.0156 mole % deuterium, whereas fresh waters of the United States range from 0.0133 to 0.0154 mole % deuterium. A measurement of Yellowstone Park fumarole gases gives a minimum temperature of 400° for the equilibrium H2O + HD = HDO + H2 in the gases.
This paper describes the application of a simple chromium reduction furnace which can be interfaced with a dual inlet isotope-ratio mass spectrometer thus providing the capacity for cheap, fast, accurate and precise measurement of deltaD(V-SMOW) by dynamic mass spectrometry. Measurements are precise to the order of < or =0.5 per thousand. Mean 95% confidence intervals for the Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (V-SMOW) to Standard Light Antarctic Precipitation (SLAP) range are in the order of 2.5 per thousand and the system is linear over the range -428 to 23,000 per thousand. Memory effects do exist, but are small for natural abundance samples and can be minimised by careful planning of the analytical load.
Water quality and land use interactive map and data CD version 1Ð0 . Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative (producer and distributor) A 10-yr record of stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation at
- Omrbwqi Lethbridge
- Canada H Peng
- Harris B S Mayer
- Krouse
- Hr
OMRBWQI. 2002. Water quality and land use interactive map and data CD version 1Ð0. Oldman River Basin Water Quality Initiative (producer and distributor), Lethbridge, Canada. Peng H, Mayer B, Harris S, Krouse HR. 2004. A 10-yr record of stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in precipitation at Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Tellus, Series B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology 56: 147– 159.
Hydrogeology of the irrigation study basin, Oldman river drainage
- Nielsen Gler
Nielsen GLeR. 1971. Hydrogeology of the irrigation study basin, Oldman river drainage, Alberta, Canada. Brigham Young University Research Studies: Geology Series 18: 3–98.
Deuterium content of Canadian waters—II
- Robertson E Brown Rm
- Thurston
- Wm
Brown RM, Robertson E, Thurston WM. 1971. Deuterium content of Canadian waters—II. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, AECL-3800.
Archived hydrometric data
- Uofa
UofA. 1969. Atlas of Alberta. University of Alberta Press: Edmonton Alberta. WSC. 2004. Archived hydrometric data. Environment Canada: http://.wsc.ec.gc.ca/hydat/H2O/. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. 21, 3301– 3315 (2007) DOI: 10.1002/hyp
Canadian climate normals Environment Canada Variations of 18 O content of waters from natural sources
- Envcan S Epstein
- Mayeda
EnvCan. 2004. Canadian climate normals. Environment Canada. http://.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca/climate normals/index e.html. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Hydrol. Process. 21, 3301– 3315 (2007) DOI: 10.1002/hyp Epstein S, Mayeda T. 1953. Variations of 18 O content of waters from natural sources. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 4: 213– 224.
1982) or the chromium reduction technique
- Gehre
1982) or the chromium reduction technique (Gehre et al., 1996; Donnelly et al., 2001; Nelson and Dettman, 2001).
Canadian climate normals
- Envcan
- EnvCan
International Hydrological Programme, Technical Documents in Hydrology 39
- Iaea
- Mook
Archived hydrometric data
- Wsc
- WSC
Deuterium content of Canadian waters-II
- Brown
