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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2018, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (5): 1461-1469.doi: 10.13287/j.1001-9332.201805.020

• Special Features of Stable Isotope Ecology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Temporal and spatial variations of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in Tuojia River and its influencing factors.

WU Hong-bao1, ZHAO Qiang1,2, QIN Xiao-bo1*, GAO Qing-zhu1, LYU Cheng-wen2   

  1. 1Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100081, China;
    2College of Territorial Resources and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, Anhui, China
  • Received:2018-01-03 Online:2018-05-18 Published:2018-05-18
  • Contact: *E-mail: qinxiaobo@caas.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41475129,41775157) and the National Development and Reform Commission Clean Development Mechanism Foundation (2014081)

Abstract: The characteristics of hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes in river is important for regional hydrologic cycle research. To uncover water supply sources in subtropical agricultural basin from a perspective of stable isotopes, field measurements were conducted in four reaches (S1, S2, S3 and S4) of Tuojia River from April to August 2017. We analyzed the spatial and temporal variations in hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and deuterium excess parameters and their relationship with precipitation, altitude and water quality. Results showed that hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and deuterium excess values ranged from -43.17‰ to -26.43‰ (-35.50‰±5.44‰), -7.94‰ to -5.70‰ (-6.86‰±0.74‰), and 16.77‰ to 23.49‰ (19.39‰±1.95‰), respectively. Under the influence of monsoon circulation, hydrogen and oxygen isotopes showed substantial seasonal variation, with spring (δD: -29.88‰±3.31‰; δ18O: -6.18‰±0.57‰) > summer (δD: -39.25‰±2.65‰; δ18O: -7.32‰±0.42‰). The spatial distribution of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes values increased fluctuantly with the position from the sampling site to the river’s source, with δD: S1<S4<S3<S2, and δ18O: S1<S3<S4<S2. The deuterium excess values had no significant temporal variation, while it spatially increased gradually with the river levels. The slope and intercept of water line in this river were smaller than that of the local meteoric water line, suggesting that precipitation was the primary water source for this river. At the seasonal scale, both δD and δ18O were significantly negatively correlated with water temperature (δD: r=-0.92; δ18O: r=-0.88) and δ18O was negatively correlated with altitude (r=-0.96). At spatial scale, δ18O had a significantly positive correlation with water temperature. The δD and δ18O had negative correlation with precipitation, but being not statistically significant.