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Spatial characteristics of surface water and groundwater using water stable isotope in the Tarim River Basin, northwestern China
Author(s) -
Zhang Yucui,
Shen Yanjun,
Chen Yaning,
Wang Yun
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
ecohydrology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.982
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1936-0592
pISSN - 1936-0584
DOI - 10.1002/eco.1416
Subject(s) - groundwater , hydrology (agriculture) , stable isotope ratio , surface water , arid , evaporation , water cycle , environmental science , geology , drainage basin , structural basin , water resources , phreatic , δ18o , geomorphology , aquifer , ecology , geography , paleontology , physics , geotechnical engineering , cartography , quantum mechanics , environmental engineering , biology , meteorology
Water resources management of the Tarim River Basin in China is hampered because it is poorly gauged, leading to inadequate understanding of the components of the hydrological cycle. This is an important problem to both ecology and society in this arid basin. In this paper, we attempt to investigate the isotopic characteristics of the surface water and groundwater in the Tarim River Basin and estimate the water evaporation loss from lakes. By measuring the water stable isotope composition and by using a mass balance model, we analyzed the spatial characteristics of the isotope composition, and isotopic water lines for surface water and groundwater were determined. Phreatic water evaporation was verified on the basis of the isotope composition results. The spatial variability of the Aksu River exhibited a ‘toward lighter–heavier’ change along the main stream for both δ 18 O and δ D, and the distributions could be described by a cubic equation. The isotope composition of the evaporation vapour ( δ E ) of the Aksu River decreased with distance. No regular trend was observed for the Tarim River between the isotope composition and distance, whereas δ E appeared to exhibit the same characteristics. This study is the first to use the isotopic method in the evaporation research for Bosten Lake. The water fraction lost [evaporation (E)/inflow (I)] in October was 0·25, which suggests that 0·68 × 10 8 m 3 input water was lost to evaporation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.