Isotope Hydrology : A Study of the Water Cycle

by Gat, Joel R.

• ISBN13: 9781860940354
• ISBN10: 1860940358
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-28
• Publisher: Textstream

Summary

Within the realm of the newly evolving discipline of environmental sciences, the stable-isotope methodology is being used to an ever-increasing extent, especially in the study of the water cycle and of paleo-climatology. This book introduces the rules of the game, by reviewing the natural variability of stable isotopes in the hydrosphere, describing the physico-chemical basis of isotope fractionation, and applying this knowledge to natural waters as they move through the hydrologic cycle from the ocean to the atmosphere, the biosphere and the lithosphere. There is a special focus on the processes at the land-biosphere-atmosphere interfaces, since these arc the sites of major changes in isotope composition. In response to the increasing awareness of our changing climate, a discussion on the global view of the changing water cycle, in the past and future, winds up the presentation. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

The Hydrosphere ù An Overview	p. 1
The Isotopes of Hydrogen and Oxygen	p. 9
Measurement techniques	p. 11
The natural abundance of isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen	p. 19
Isotope Fractionation	p. 22
Isotope fractionation under equilibrium conditions (Thermodynamic fractionation processes)	p. 23
Isotope fractionation accompanying transport processes	p. 26
Models of Isotopic Change in the Water Cycle	p. 28
Closed equilibrium system	p. 28
Open equilibrium systems-the Rayleigh Equation	p. 29
Systems without inflow	p. 30
Systems with both in- and outflow	p. 30
Evaporation under natural conditions	p. 32
Isotope composition of the evaporation flux-8E	p. 36
Postscript	p. 37
The "Isotope Transfer Function" (ITF)	p. 37
The Ocean System and the Marine Atmosphere	p. 39
Isotope composition of the ocean waters	p. 39
Water in the marine atmosphere	p. 42
Isotopic composition of marine vapour	p. 42
Precipitation over the oceans	p. 47
Clouds and Precipitation	p. 51
The isotopic composition of the precipitation	p. 52
Snow, hail and other solid phase precipitation	p. 57
Precipitation over the continents	p. 58
The Local Meteoric Water Lines (LMWL)	p. 63
The isotope composition of the atmospheric moisture	p. 65
Snow and Snowmelt Processes	p. 67
Solid precipitation elements	p. 67
Snow accumulation and changes in the snowpack	p. 68
The snowmelt process	p. 69
The Land-Biosphere-Atmosphere Interface	p. 70
Isotope change in the land-biosphere-atmosphere interface.	p. 71
Above-surface processes	p. 75
Local surface runoff	p. 78
The local percolation flux	p. 79
Surface Waters	p. 81
The surface runoff	p. 81
Isotopic hydrograph separation	p. 82
River systems and the "Isotopic River Continuum Model"	p. 83
Open waters (ponds to lakes)	p. 86
The Index-Lake concept	p. 93
Vertical mixing in lakes	p. 94
Ice covered lakes	p. 96
Lakes without surface outflow	p. 99
Coupled and complex evaporative systems	p. 100
Water in Soils and Plants	p. 106
Infiltration, percolation and interflow	p. 106
Evaporation from within the soil	p. 109
The soil-mediated recharge flux	p. 112
Water uptake by plants	p. 112
Water in the plant tissues	p. 116
Saline Waters	p. 122
Sources of salinity in the hydrologic cycle	p. 124
Salinisation mechanisms and their isotopic signature	p. 127
Evaporation of saline waters	p. 129
Freezing of saline solutions	p. 130
Ultrafiltration	p. 131
Sub-Surface Waters	p. 132
Circulating (meteoric) groundwater	p. 133
Paleowaters	p. 134
Geothermal systems	p. 138
Formation water	p. 140
The Continental Scale Water Balance and Its Isotopic Signature	p. 144
Water isotopes on the continental lee-side	p. 150
Isotope aided GCMs	p. 150
Isotopes and Climate Change	p. 152
Oxygen and Hydrogen isotope composition of proxy materials as tools in paleo-climate research	p. 152
Glaciers	p. 154
Ocean and lake sediments	p. 155
Effect of climate change on the isotope signature in the hydrologic cycle	p. 156
References	p. 159
Appendix: Tritium in the Water Cycle	p. 177
Index	p. 185
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