Environmental isotope (δ18O) and hydrological data to assess water flow in unsaturated soils planted with different crops: Case study lysimeter station “Wagna” (Austria)

Stumpp, Christine; Małoszewski, Piotr; Stichler, Willibald; Fank, Johann

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.02.047

Cited by 74 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, the scale dependency of the dispersivity is generally reported to be less pronounced or nonexistent for the field-scale experiments and longer travel distances (Vanderborght and Vereecken, 2007). The estimated values for the dispersivity parameters are mostly within the range of 0.8-20 cm, as reported in a review by Vanderborght and Vereecken (2007) for the field-scale and lysimeter studies by Stumpp et al (2009aStumpp et al ( , 2012. As the dispersivity parameter was shown to be scale dependent (Vanderborght and Vereecken, 2007), the presented methodology provides the opportunity to optimize parameters for each soil horizon, in contrast to soil column or lysimeter studies, where the dispersivity parameter is integrated over the entire soil profile (Inoue et al, 2000;Stumpp et al, 2012).…”

Section: Dispersivity Parameter Estimationmentioning

confidence: 70%

Estimating flow and transport parameters in the unsaturated zone with pore water stable isotopes

Sprenger

Volkmann

Blume

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

123

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Abstract. Determining the soil hydraulic properties is a prerequisite to physically model transient water flow and solute transport in the vadose zone. Estimating these properties by inverse modelling techniques has become more common within the last 2 decades. While these inverse approaches usually fit simulations to hydrometric data, we expanded the methodology by using independent information about the stable isotope composition of the soil pore water depth profile as a single or additional optimization target. To demonstrate the potential and limits of this approach, we compared the results of three inverse modelling strategies where the fitting targets were (a) pore water isotope concentrations, (b) a combination of pore water isotope concentrations and soil moisture time series, and (c) a two-step approach using first soil moisture data to determine water flow parameters and then the pore water stable isotope concentrations to estimate the solute transport parameters. The analyses were conducted at three study sites with different soil properties and vegetation. The transient unsaturated water flow was simulated by solving the Richards equation numerically with the finiteelement code of HYDRUS-1D. The transport of deuterium was simulated with the advection-dispersion equation, and a modified version of HYDRUS was used, allowing deuterium loss during evaporation. The Mualem-van Genuchten and the longitudinal dispersivity parameters were determined for two major soil horizons at each site. The results show that approach (a), using only the pore water isotope content, cannot substitute hydrometric information to derive parameter sets that reflect the observed soil moisture dynamics but gives comparable results when the parameter space is constrained by pedotransfer functions. Approaches (b) and (c), using both the isotope profiles and the soil moisture time series, resulted in good simulation results with regard to the Kling-Gupta efficiency and good parameter identifiability. However, approach (b) has the advantage that it considers the isotope data not only for the solute transport parameters but also for water flow and root water uptake, and thus increases parameter realism. Approaches (b) and (c) both outcompeted simulations run with parameters derived from pedotransfer functions, which did not result in an acceptable representation of the soil moisture dynamics and pore water stable isotope composition. Overall, parameters based on this new approach that includes isotope data lead to similar model performances regarding the water balance and soil moisture dynamics and better parameter identifiability than the conventional inverse model approaches limited to hydrometric fitting targets. If only data from isotope profiles in combination with textural information is available, the results are still satisfactory. This method has the additional advantage that it will not only allow us to estimate water balance and response times but also site-specific time variant transit times or solute breakthrough within t...

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Section: Dispersivity Parameter Estimationmentioning

confidence: 70%

Estimating flow and transport parameters in the unsaturated zone with pore water stable isotopes

Sprenger

Volkmann

Blume

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

123

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“…Stable isotope compositions of soil water, plant xylems and precipitation can be obtained to identify soil water migration processes such as infiltration, evaporation, transpiration and percolation (Caley and Roche, 2013;Yang et al, 2012b;Catherne et al, 2010;Stumpp et al, 2009). Zimmerman et al (1967) first applied stable isotopes to study the soil water profile, showing that evaporation at the surface of a saturated soil column causes deuterium enrichment near the surface that decreases exponentially with depth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The naturally occurring vertical gradients of δD and δ 18 O in soil water provide similar information about plant water uptake depth from soils. A number of studies have used isotopes to characterize soil water movement in one location and thus one climatic regime (Orlowski et al, 2016b;Manzoni et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2011;Stumpp et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil water migration in the unsaturated zone of semiarid region in China from isotope evidence

Yang

2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Soil water is an important driving force of the ecosystems, especially in the semiarid hill and gully region of the northwestern Loess Plateau in China. The mechanism of soil water migration in the reconstruction and restoration of Loess Plateau is a key scientific problem that must be solved. Isotopic tracers can provide valuable information associated with complex hydrological problems, difficult to obtain using other methods. In this study, the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes are used as tracers to investigate the migration processes of soil water in the unsaturated zone in an arid region of China's Loess Plateau. Samples of precipitation, soil water, plant xylems and plant roots are collected and analysed. The conservative elements deuterium (D) and oxygen ( 18 O) are used as tracers to identify variable source and mixing processes. The mixing model is used to quantify the contribution of each end member and calculate mixing amounts. The results show that the isotopic composition of precipitation in the Anjiagou River basin is affected by isotopic fractionation due to evaporation. The isotopic compositions of soil waters are plotted between or near the local meteoric water lines, indicating that soil waters are recharged by precipitation. The soil water migration is dominated by piston-type flow in the study area and rarely preferential flow. Water migration exhibited a transformation pathway from precipitation to soil water to plant water. δ 18 O and δD are enriched in the shallow (< 20 cm depth) soil water in most soil profiles due to evaporation. The isotopic composition of xylem water is close to that of soil water at the depth of 40-60 cm. These values reflect soil water signatures associated with Caragana korshinskii Kom. uptake at the depth of 40-60 cm. Soil water from the surface soil layer (20-40 cm) comprised 6-12 % of plant xylem water, while soil water at the depth of 40-60 cm is the largest component of plant xylem water (ranging from 60 to 66 %), soil water below 60 cm depth comprised 8-14 % of plant xylem water and only 5-8 % is derived directly from precipitation. This study investigates the migration process of soil water, identifies the source of plant water and finally provides a scientific basis for identification of model structures and parameters. It can provide a scientific basis for ecological water demand, ecological restoration, and management of water resources.

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“…Isotopic tracers can provide data and information on the origin of runoff processes and components [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. It can be used to study the water cycle and origin of atmospheric condensates [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal and Spatial Variations of Hydrological Processes on the Landscape Zone Scale in an Alpine Cold Region (Mafengou River Basin, China): An Update

Yang

2017

Water

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This study investigates precipitation, snow, groundwater, glaciers and frozen soil in different landscape zones using isotopic and hydrogeochemical tracers. The aim of this study is to identify temporal and spatial variations, as well as hydrological processes in the alpine cold region. The results show that there was no significant difference in water chemical characteristics of various waterbodies, and no obvious temporal variation, but exhibited spatial variation. In the wet season, various waterbodies are enriched in oxygen δ 18 O and deuterium δD due to a temperature effect. Precipitation and the temperature decrease during the dry season, which cannot easily be affected by secondary evaporation. The d-excess (deuterium excess) of various waterbodies was greater than 10‰. There are no altitude effects during wet and dry seasons because the recharged water resources are different in the wet and dry seasons. It is influenced by the freezing-thawing process of glacier snow and frozen soil. The river water is recharged by thawed frozen soil water and precipitation in the wet season, but glacier snow meltwater with negative δ 18 O and δD is less (14-18%). In the dry season, glacier snow meltwater and groundwater are the dominant source of the river water, and thawed frozen soil water is less (10-15%).

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Environmental isotope (δ18O) and hydrological data to assess water flow in unsaturated soils planted with different crops: Case study lysimeter station “Wagna” (Austria)

Cited by 74 publications

References 46 publications

Estimating flow and transport parameters in the unsaturated zone with pore water stable isotopes

Estimating flow and transport parameters in the unsaturated zone with pore water stable isotopes

Soil water migration in the unsaturated zone of semiarid region in China from isotope evidence

Temporal and Spatial Variations of Hydrological Processes on the Landscape Zone Scale in an Alpine Cold Region (Mafengou River Basin, China): An Update

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