A comparative study on stable isotopic composition in waters of the glacial and nonglacial rivers in Mount Gongga, China. (13th January 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Meng, Yuchuan; Liu, Guodong; Zhang, Lantian
• Is Part Of: Water and environment journal. Volume 28:Number 2(2014)
• Page Start: 212
• Page End: 221
• Publication Date: 2013-01-13
• Subjects: Sewage -- Periodicals; Water-supply -- Periodicals; Environmental management -- Periodicals; Water-supply engineering -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Periodicals; 628.1
• DOI: 10.1111/wej.12027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1747-6585

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Hailuogou (HLG) River and Huangbengliu (HBL) Gulley are typical alpine glacial and nonglacial rivers in Mount Gongga China, respectively. To differentiate distinct hydrologic regimes of the two rivers, <italic>δ</italic>¹⁸O and <italic>δ</italic>²H were measured on 196 water samples collected almost monthly from May 2008 to December 2009. The results indicate that: (i) the measured isotopic data show that stream water is overall isotopically more enriched in ²H and ¹⁸O than ice‐snow meltwater but more depleted than precipitation and ground water; (ii) these data also suggest that stream flow is generally more dominated by ice‐snow meltwater in HLG River than in HBL Gulley; (iii) <italic>δ</italic>²H/<italic>δ</italic>¹⁸O relationship suggests that isotopic composition of precipitation is well preserved in stream flow, and evaporation is only minor in both HBL Gulley and HLG River; (iv) this study highlights that ice‐snow meltwater is a substantially important water source in alpine regions on south‐eastern edge of Tibetan Plateau.</p> </abstract>