The altitude effect of δ 18O in precipitation and river water in the Southern Himalayas

Wen, Rong; Tian, Lide; Weng, Ying; Liu, Zhongfang; Zhao, Zhenyu

doi:10.1007/s11434-012-4992-7

Cited by 54 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These waters often had lower isotopic values (e.g., mean δ 18 O = −12.9 ‰ in Y. Liu, et al, ; mean δ 18 O = −11.2‰ in Xu et al, ). Many previous studies have reported that the river water isotopic compositions become increasingly depleted and that the lapse rate for δ 18 O in river water ranges from 0.1‰/100 m to 0.3‰/100 m in the Tibetan Plateau region (Hren, Bookhagen, Blisniuk, Booth, & Chamberlain, ; Wen, Tian, Weng, Liu, & Zhao, ). Bershaw et al () investigated the spatial distribution of δ 18 O in modern surface waters in the eastern region of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau, where negative δ 18 O values were determined in the high elevation sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Song

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Changes in the level of the Yangtze River caused by anthropogenic water regulation have major effects on the hydrological processes and water cycle in surrounding lakes and rivers. In this study, we obtained isotopic evidence of changes in the water cycle of Yangtze River during the two drought years of 2006 and 2013. Isotopic evidence demonstrated that the δ18O and δD levels in Yangtze River exhibited high spatial heterogeneity from the upper to lower reaches, which were controlled by atmospheric precipitation, tributary/lake water mixing, damming regulation, and water temperature. Both the slope and intercept of Yangtze River evaporative line (δD = 7.88 δ18O + 7.96) were slightly higher than those of local meteoric water line of Yangtze River catchment (δD = 7.41 δ18O + 6.01). Most of the river isotopic values were located below the local meteoric water line, thereby implying that the Yangtze River water experienced a certain degree of evaporative enrichment on isotopic compositions of river water. The high fluctuations in the isotopic composition (e.g., deuterium excess [d‐excess]) in the middle to lower reaches during the initial stage of operation for the Three Gorges Dams (2003–2006) were due to heterogeneous isotopic signatures from the upstream water. In contrast to the normal stage (after 2010) characterized by the maximum water level and largest water storage, a relatively small variability in the deuterium excess was found along the middle to lower reaches because of the homogenization of reservoir water with a longer residence time and complete mixing. The effects of water from lakes and tributaries on the isotopic compositions in mainstream water were highlighted because of the high contributions of lakes water (e.g., Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake) efflux to the Yangtze River mainstream, which ranged from 21% to 85% during 2006 and 2013. These findings suggest that the retention and regulation of the Three Gorges Dams has greatly buffered the isotopic variability of the water cycle in the Yangtze catchment, thereby improving our understanding of the complex lake–river interactions along the middle to lower reaches in the future.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Song

et al. 2017

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Using this composite data set, we derived the second-order least squares regression for each isotope with elevation: [Liu et al, 2008b[Liu et al, , 2009 (Figure 5), the isotope elevation gradient is distinct from those along other boundaries of the Tibetan Plateau. On the south slope of the Himalaya and southern Tibet, the d 18 O w altitudinal gradients are higher (20.320.23&/100m) [Garzione et al, 2000;Zhang et al, 2002;Ding et al, 2009;Hren, 2009;Yao et al, 2009;Wen et al, 2012]. In contrast, on the northern and southeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, the gradients are as low as 20.15 &/100 m Ding et al, 2009;Bershaw et al, 2012], and 0.19&/100 m [Hoke et al, 2014], respectively.…”

Section: Isotope Values With Catchment Elevationsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Stable isotopes of surface water across the Longmenshan margin of the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Hoke

Liu‐Zeng

et al. 2014

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Characterization of the stable isotope compositions (d 18 O and dD) of modern-day surface waters traversing mountain ranges and bordering continental plateaus is important for refining climate models and establishing modern isotope-elevation gradients along mountain ranges. The Longmenshan margin of the Tibetan Plateau is a steep, 4 km topographic front situated near the boundaries between westerlies and Asian monsoon moisture sources, and is previously unexplored with respect to the variation in water isotopic composition with elevation. This study reports stable isotope data from 101 water samples collected from streams, springs, and ponds along the Min River (Minjiang) watershed, which traverses the Longmenshan margin. Local meteoric water lines, d-excess values, and surrounding precipitation and river water data sets suggest that precipitation across the Longmenshan margin is dominated by the East Asian summer monsoon. The increase in d-excess values with increasing catchment elevation breaks down as local moisture recycling becomes important at elevations > 3 km a.s.l.. Along the Min River, however, the d 18 O w and dD w values decrease with increasing catchment elevation, which fit second-order polynomial curves and are well-approximated by a simple Rayleigh fractionation processes. The temperature-corrected oxygen values in authigenic carbonates from the Pleistocene Zoige Basin, north of the Min River watershed, yield elevations equivalent to present by the oxygen isotope-elevation relationship of the Longmenshan margin.

show abstract

“…A number of studies around the world have reported on the effect of isotopic lapse rates of precipitation in streamwater (Jeelani, Saravana Kumar, & Kumar, ; Wen et al, ), groundwater (Lambán et al, ; O'Driscoll, DeWalle, McGuire, & Gburek, ), and soil water (O'Driscoll et al, ). However, this effect can be masked by other fractionating processes as well as elevation‐dependent recharge processes.…”

Section: Background Of Isotope Hydrologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Snowfall may have different stable isotopic compositions compared with rainfall, allowing its contribution to potentially be tracked through the hydrological cycle. This review summarizes the state of knowledge of how different hydrometeorological processes affect the isotopic composition of snow in its different forms (snowfall, snowpack, and snowmelt), and, through selected examples, discusses how stable water isotopes can provide a better understanding of snow hydrological processes. A detailed account is given of how the variability in isotopic composition of snow changes from precipitation to final melting. The effect of different snow ablation processes (sublimation, melting, and redistribution by wind or avalanches) on the isotope ratios of the underlying snowpack are also examined. Insights into the role of canopy in snow interception processes, and how the isotopic composition in canopy underlying snowpacks can elucidate the exchanges therein are discussed, as well as case studies demonstrating the usefulness of stable water isotopes to estimate seasonality in the groundwater recharge. Rain-on-snow floods illustrate how isotopes can be useful to estimate the role of preferential flow during heavy spring rains. All these examples point to the complexity of snow hydrologic processes and demonstrate that an isotopic approach is useful to quantify snow contributions throughout the water cycle, especially in high-elevation and highlatitude catchments, where such processes are most pronounced. This synthesis concludes by tracing a snow particle along its entire hydrologic life cycle, highlights the major practical challenges remaining in snow hydrology and discusses future research directions.

show abstract

The altitude effect of δ 18O in precipitation and river water in the Southern Himalayas

Cited by 54 publications

References 34 publications

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Spatial and temporal patterns of stable water isotopes along the Yangtze River during two drought years

Stable isotopes of surface water across the Longmenshan margin of the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Understanding snow hydrological processes through the lens of stable water isotopes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About