Isotope study of moisture sources, recharge areas, and groundwater flow paths within the eastern Batinah coastal plain, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

[1] Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses of rainfall samples collected on the eastern Batinah coastal plain of northern Oman between 1995 and 1998 indicate two different principal water vapor sources for precipitation in the area: a northern, Mediterranean source and a southern, Indian Ocean source. As a result, two new local meteoric water lines were defined for the study area. Isotopic analyses of groundwater samples from over 200 springs and wells indicate that the main source of water to the Batinah coastal alluvial aquifer is high-altitude rainfall from the adjacent Jabal Akhdar Mountains, originating from a combination of northern and southern moisture sources. The groundwater recharged at high-altitude forms two plumes of water which is depleted in the heavy isotopes 18 O and 2 H and stretches from the mountains across the coastal plain to the sea, thereby retaining a chemical homogeneity horizontally and vertically down to a depth exceeding 300 m. In contrast, in areas adjacent to these two plumes the alluvial aquifer is geochemically stratified. Near the coast, saline intrusion results in abrupt changes in chloride concentrations and isotope values.

A study of interaction between surface water and groundwater using environmental isotope in Huaisha River basin

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Climatological aspects of the extreme European rainfall of August 2002 and a trajectory method for estimating the associated evaporative source regions

“…The hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios can be measured and compared with estimates derived from an empirical relationship with air humidity values over the supposed source regions and based on meteorological data. Recent applications of this method include Yamanaka et al (2002) for rainfall over Japan and Weyhenmeyer et al (2002) who found that rainfall over Oman could be separated into events with a Mediterranean source and events with an Indian Ocean source. However, this approach has fundamental limitations because it requires detailed analyses of rain samples.…”

Migration of chlorinated hydrocarbons in multilayer unconsolidated porous media: a case study from the Po Plain, Italy

“…Environmental tracers such as the stable isotopic ratios of oxygen (δ 18 O) and hydrogen (δ 2 H) are a valuable tool identify the sources of groundwater recharge by means of mixing calculations (e.g. de Vries and Simmers 2002;Gemitzi et al 2014;Gibson et al 2005;Liu et al 2004;Liu and Yamanaka 2012;Mizota and Kusakabe 1994;Nakaya et al 2007;Qin et al 2011;Rietti-Shati et al 2000;Weyhenmeyer et al 2002;Wilcox et al 2004) and thus to perform a physically based assessment of the intrinsic vulnerability. Such assessment of intrinsic vulnerability is based on the common hydrogeologic assumption that low permeability layers (i.e.…”