Island-Wide Isotopic Analysis of Meteoric and Hydrothermal Waters in Dominica, Lesser Antilles

An Investigation of the Influences on the Geochemistry of Streams in Dominica, Lesser Antilles: 2014-2017

“…However, to confirm this more research is needed, As expected, Figure 3 shows that waters generally become more enriched in both δ 18 O and δ 2 H with progressive input of hydrothermally altered water. As noted in previous Dominican stream chemistry reports, precipitation amount seems to be inversely correlated with δ 18 O in Hyd and Hyd-met samples, due to dilution of hydrothermally altered stream water with more meteoric waters (Metzger, et al, 2015;DeFranco, et al, 2016;Metzger, et al, 2016). This effect is not seen in Hyd samples.…”

“…The island features a population of 74,000, active volcanism, one of the world's greatest stream den-sities, with 350 streams over an area of 751 km 2 , and high precipitation rates up to 10,000 mm/yr in the mountainous interior. Synthesizing data collected in projects led by Holli Frey over the last four years, this study aims to characterize the impact of environmental factors to stream water chemistry, examining precipitation patterns and hydrothermal activity (Metzger et al, 2015;DeFranco et al, 2016;Metzger et al, 2016).…”

Hazards in the Caribbean: The History of Magma Chambers, Eruptions, Landslides, Streams, and Fumeroles in Dominica

“…Mazi Mathias-Onyeali (University of Colorado) analyzed the waters from geothermal areas, comparing data from published work (Joseph et al, 2011) and ongoing studies since 2014 (Metzger et al, 2015;Metzger et al, 2016;DeFranco et al, 2016). Recent changes in chemistry of the waters have indicated that while the origin of the hydrothermal systems are still dominantly meteoric (δ 18 O = -3 to 8‰ and δD = -5 to 18‰), surface evaporation effects and variable amounts of mixing with shallow ground waters play an important role.…”