Oxygen-18 study of the atmospheric-aquatic linkage in three Adirondack lake watersheds

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5155022

Holt, B D; Kumar, R

Twelve monthly measurements were made of the delta/sup 18/O of the water and of the dissolved sulfates in inlet streams and in outlet streams of lakes in three watersheds in the Adirondack Park region of New York. The average delta/sup 18/O/sub H/sub 2/O/ of the surface waters (streams and lakes) of the three watersheds was well within the typical range of seasonally varying delta/sup 18/O/sub H/sub 2/O/ of precipitation water; however, the delta/sup 18/O/sub SO/sub 4//sup 2 -// of the surface waters was significantly lower than the typical range of seasonally varying delta/sup 18/O/sub SO/sub 4//sup 2 -// in precipitation water. Two possible causes for the apparent alteration of delta/sup 18/O of the sulfates, during the water percolation of various ground strata in the ground link between the atmosphere and watershed lakes are: (1) bacteriological redox cycling, in which the sulfate is bacterially reduced, allowing isotopic equilibration between the HSO/sub 3//sup -/ ion and associated water, before catalytic reoxidation by air back to sulfate; and/or (2) ion exchange, in which the soil strata, containing chemically fixed sulfate, behave as a ''column'' which is not yet in sulfate-ion equilibrium with the sulfate in atmospheric recharge water.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5155022
• Report Number(s): CONF-850944-1; ON: DE85018355
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500101* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Basic Studies-- Radiometric Techniques-- (-1989)
520200 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACID RAIN
ACIDIFICATION
ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CHEMISTRY
DEPOSITION
ECOSYSTEMS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MOUNTAINS
NUCLEI
OXYGEN 18
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
PRECIPITATION SCAVENGING
RAIN
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STABLE ISOTOPES
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
VARIATIONS
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATERSHEDS