Quantifying Groundwater Recharge Dynamics and Unsaturated Zone Processes in Snow‐Dominated Catchments via On‐Site Dissolved Gas Analysis. Issue 2 (22nd February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Schilling, O. S.; Parajuli, A.; Tremblay Otis, C.; Müller, T. U.; Antolinez Quijano, W.; Tremblay, Y.; Brennwald, M. S.; Nadeau, D. F.; Jutras, S.; Kipfer, R.; Therrien, R.
• Is Part Of: Water resources research. Volume 57:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-02-22
• Subjects: biological N‐fixation -- groundwater recharge -- hydrological tracers -- noble gases -- snowmelt -- stable water isotopes; Hydrology -- Periodicals; 333.91
• DOI: 10.1029/2020WR028479
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0043-1397

Abstract

Abstract: Snowmelt contributes a significant fraction of groundwater recharge in snow‐dominated regions, making its accurate quantification crucial for sustainable water resources management. While several components of the hydrological cycle can be measured directly, catchment‐scale recharge can only be quantified indirectly. Stable water isotopes are often used as tracers to estimate snowmelt recharge, even though estimates based on stable water isotopes are biased due to the large variations of δ 2 H and δ 18 O in snow and the difficulty to measure snowmelt directly. To overcome this gap, a new tracer method based on on‐site measurements of dissolved He, 40 Ar, 84 Kr, N2, O2, and CO2 is presented. The new method was developed alongside classical tracer methods (stable water isotopes, 222 Rn, 3 H/ 3 He) in a highly instrumented boreal catchment. By revealing (noble gas) recharge temperatures and excess air, dissolved gases allow (i) the contribution of snowmelt to recharge, (ii) the temporal recharge dynamics, and (iii) the primary recharge pathways to be identified. In contrast to stable water isotopes, which produced highly inconsistent snowmelt recharge estimates for the experimental catchment, dissolved gases produced consistent estimates even when the temperature of snowmelt during recharge was not precisely known. As dissolved gases are not controlled by the same processes as stable water isotopes, they are not prone to the same biases and represent a highly complementary tracer method for the quantification of snowmelt recharge dynamics in snow‐dominated regions. Furthermore, an observed systematic depletion of N2 in groundwater provides new evidence for the pathways of biological N‐fixation in boreal forest soils. Key Points: On‐site measurements of dissolved noble gases allow quantification of groundwater recharge from snowmelt Simultaneous measurement of noble gases and O2, CO2, and N2 allows quantification of unsaturated zone processes Depletion in N2 provides evidence for recharging groundwater being the primary source of N2 for biological N‐fixation in boreal forests