Stable water isotopes and tritium data from porewater at Elkhorn Slough
Salt marshes are dynamic hydrologic systems where terrestrial groundwater, terrestrial surface water, and seawater mix due to bi-directional flows and pressure gradients. Due to the counteracting terrestrial and marine forcings that control these environments, we do not comprehensively understand water fluxes in these complex coastal systems. To understand the water sources, flow directions, and velocities in salt marsh porewater, we collected geochemical tracers across a hillslope-to-salt marsh continuum in a salt marsh experiencing daily inundation of estuarine surface water (SW) from tides and mixing of fresh seasonal groundwater. The experimental transect is located at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve.Here we present a data table (.csv) with the results of electrical conductivity, stable water isotopes, and tritium in porewater across several elevations in the hillslope-to-salt marsh continuum (information in the data set). We analyzed the stable water isotope samples by cavity ring-down spectroscopy in a Picarro L2130-i at the University of California Santa Cruz (accuracy of 0.025‰ and 0.1‰ for δ18O and δ2H, respectively). We measured the electric conductivity of the samples with an Orion Star™ A329 multiparameter meter (0.5% accuracy, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts, USA). We analyzed 3H samples at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by helium-3 accumulation (Clarke et al., 1976; Surano et al., 1992).
- Research Organization:
- Environmental System Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) (United States); Linking Nutrient Reactivity and Transport in Subsurface Flowpaths Along a Terrestrial-Estuarine Continuum
- Sponsoring Organization:
- U.S. DOE > Office of Science > Biological and Environmental Research (BER); NOAA > Margaret A. Davidson fellowship; California Natural Resources Agency > California SeaGrant
- OSTI ID:
- 1970526
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Flow Directions and Ages of Subsurface Water in a Salt Marsh System Constrained by Isotope Tracing
Modeled sub-hourly nitrate concentrations in subsurface water across a salt marsh system in Elkhorn Slough, California