Characteristics of water isotopes and ice-snowmelt quantification in the Tizinafu River, north Kunlun Mountains, Central Asia

Fan, Yuting; Chen, Yaning; Li, Xingong; Li, Weihong; Li, Qihu

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.05.020

Cited by 53 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The increasing trend in EC from S8 to S1 during summer periods (Fig. 3b), consistent with other works (Kong and Pang, 2012;Fan et al, 2015), reflects the combined effect of lower elevations, smaller snow-covered area, decreasing glacierized area, progressive decrease of meltwater fractions and proportional increase of groundwater contributions (Fig. 5), and inflows by groundwater-dominated lateral tributaries.…”

Section: Controls On the Spatio-temporal Patterns Of The Tracer Signalsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…2-4) highlighting the complex hydrochemistry of the groundwater system (Brown et al, 2006;Hindshaw et al, 2011;Kong and Pang, 2012). The depleted signal in summer months (Table 6) suggests a role of snowmelt in groundwater recharge (Baraer et al, 2015;Fan et al, 2015;Xing et al, 2015) that was quantified in a previous study . At the same time, the relatively high EC during summer demonstrates solute concentration and suggests longer residence times and/or flow pathways (and thus long contact with the soil particles) of infiltrating meltwater before recharging the groundwater (Brown et al, 2006;Esposito et al, 2016).…”

Section: Controls On the Spatio-temporal Patterns Of The Tracer Signalmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…temporary storage of winterearly 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.…”

Section: Penna Et Al: Meltwater Dynamics and Streamflow Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water seasonally melting from snowpack and glacier bodies can constitute a larger contribution to annual streamflow than rain (Cable et al, 2011;Jost et al, 2012), and is widely used, especially in Alpine valleys, for irrigation and hydropower production (Schaefli et al, 2007;Beniston, 2012). It is therefore pivotal for an effective adoption of water resources strategies to understand the origin of water and to quantify the proportion of snowmelt and glacier melt in streamflow (Finger et al, 2013;Fan et al, 2015). To achieve this goal it is critical to gain a more detailed understanding of the hydrological functioning of glacierized catchments through the analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of water sources and the spatial and seasonal meltwater (snowmelt plus glacier melt) dynamics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Towards a tracer-based conceptualization of meltwater dynamics and streamflow response in a glacierized catchment

Penna

Engel

Bertoldi

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. 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.

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Section: Controls On the Spatio-temporal Patterns Of The Tracer Signalsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Controls On the Spatio-temporal Patterns Of The Tracer Signalmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Penna Et Al: Meltwater Dynamics and Streamflow Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Towards a tracer-based conceptualization of meltwater dynamics and streamflow response in a glacierized catchment

Penna

Engel

Bertoldi

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…It is reasonable to use isotopic techniques to study the water sources and supply mechanism of surface water and groundwater [6,[12][13][14][15], the evaporation of water bodies, and the mixing processes among various headwaters [16][17][18]. Isotope hydrograph separation (IHS) could provide a quantitative method to differentiate the replenishment of rivers for water resource management, especially in ungauged basins.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isotopic Characterization of River Waters and Water Source Identification in an Inland River, Central Asia

Fan

Chen

et al. 2016

Water

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Abstract:Understanding runoff generation and dynamics is the basis for water resource management, while water isotopic ratios are a potential tool for studying the mechanism on a large scale. In this paper, spatial variations of δ 18 O and δD of river water and their sources within a large region of the Tarim River were investigated. The results showed obvious spatial variations of both water isotope values along the river flow direction, and significant seasonal variation occurred within the river water isotopes. This indicated that different proportions of rain and melt water entering river water should lead to spatial variation, and for mid-stream and downstream regions, the transformation relationship between surface water and groundwater should consider less input of melt water. Furthermore, we quantitatively determine the ratio of different water sources using the stable isotope mass balance method and other stable tracer elements. Results showed the contribution of ice-snowmelt water varied from 14.97% to 40.85%, that of rain varied from 9.04% to 54.80%, and that of groundwater varied from 15.34% to 58.85%, and they also showed that baseflow is a factor connecting melt water and groundwater, which meant the Hotan River and the Yarkand River are melt water-dependent rivers, and seasonal precipitation is the main water supply source of baseflow in the Aksu River and the Kaidu River.

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Differential isotopic characteristics of eco‐hydrologic processes in a subtropical watershed, China

et al. 2018

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In order to better understand isotopic characteristics of eco‐hydrologic processes in subtropical zones, this study selected a typical subtropical watershed in China to investigate and determine the complex differential mechanisms inherent to this water body type. Results showed that stable isotopes in precipitation within a Local Meteoric Water Line in the Xiangxi River basin (where δD = (8.23 ± 0.27)δ18O + (17.97 ± 1.65); R2 = 0.94) weighted δD and δ18O average precipitation values were −22.11‰ and −5.23‰, respectively. Furthermore, enrichment trends in river water δ18O (−4.21‰ to −6.91‰) and δD (−25.11‰ to −38.13‰) and soil solution δ18O (−6.30‰ to −11.21‰) and δD (−11.21‰ to −34.57‰) were greater compared with precipitation δ18O (−0.23‰ to −12.06‰) and δD (0.54‰ to −98.52‰) and throughfall δ18O (−1.11‰ to −4.72‰) and δD (−2.11‰ to −24.95‰). This study found obvious seasonality and higher deuterium excess (d‐excess) values in precipitation during the dry season and lower values during the rainy season. Moreover, the orchard was more enriched and the coniferous and broad‐leaved mixed forest was more depleted in δD and δ18O compared with other land cover types. Precipitation was an important climate variable in subtropical watersheds under the influence of monsoon systems. According to results from the isotopic mixture model, precipitation input fractions were greater than 88% in the soil solution and greater than 21% in river water.

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Characteristics of water isotopes and ice-snowmelt quantification in the Tizinafu River, north Kunlun Mountains, Central Asia

Cited by 53 publications

References 13 publications

Towards a tracer-based conceptualization of meltwater dynamics and streamflow response in a glacierized catchment

Towards a tracer-based conceptualization of meltwater dynamics and streamflow response in a glacierized catchment

Isotopic Characterization of River Waters and Water Source Identification in an Inland River, Central Asia

Differential isotopic characteristics of eco‐hydrologic processes in a subtropical watershed, China

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