Stable Isotope Studies of the Water Cycle and Terrestrial Environments

This volume is devoted to Earth surface environmental reconstructions and environmental changes that may be deciphered and modelled using stable isotopes along with mineralogical/chemical, sedimentological, palaeontological/biological and climatological methodologies. The book is divided into two sections, both using stable isotopes (δD, δ18O, δ13C, d15N, δ34S, clumped isotopes Δ47) in various samples and phases as the main research tool. The first section is devoted to studies focusing on the distribution of isotopes in precipitation, groundwater, lakes, rivers, springs, tap water, mine water and their relationship with terrestrial environments at regional to continental scale. In relation to this, the second section includes case studies from a range of continental settings, investigating cave deposits (stalagmites, bat guano), animal skeletons (dinosaurs, alligators, turtles, bivalves), present and past soils (palaeosols) and limestones. The sections focus on the interaction between the surficial water cycle and underground water storage with deposits acting as archives of short- to long-term climatic and environmental changes. Examples from the Early Cretaceous to present time come from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America.
Geographic variations in the slope of the δ2H–δ18O meteoric water line over Europe: a record of increasing continentality Available to Purchase
Correspondence: [email protected]
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Published:October 28, 2021
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CitationChristophe Lécuyer, Ana-Voica Bojar, Valérie Daux, Serge Legendre, 2021. "Geographic variations in the slope of the δ2H–δ18O meteoric water line over Europe: a record of increasing continentality", Stable Isotope Studies of the Water Cycle and Terrestrial Environments, A.-V. Bojar, A. Pelc, C. Lécuyer
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Abstract
δ2H and δ18O values of precipitations follow an empirical linear relationship at the global scale that is called the Global Meteoric Water Line (GMWL) and characterized by a slope of 8. However, Local Meteoric Water Lines (LMWLs) may have different slopes S depending on their geographic situation. Monthly δ2H and δ18O of precipitation have been compiled from European International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stations. Those data allowed the calculation of the slopes S of the δ2H–δ18O LMWL determined for each station. S increases with longitude ϕ from c. 5 (Portugal) to c. 9 (Russia) – they are positively correlated with relative humidity (RH), negatively with temperature and positively with the mean intra-annual amplitude of temperatures, which is a proxy of continentality. Slopes of 5–6, recorded in SW Europe, reflect mean RH (70–75%) and sea surface temperatures (c. 25°C) of the Central Atlantic Ocean where the main flux of moisture is formed before being transported by the westerlies. In addition, falling water droplets within an air column with a high RH (>80%) and low temperature are expected to escape sub-cloud evaporation. Therefore, slopes with values close to 9 are considered to reflect isotopic equilibrium conditions during the condensation of water vapour in clouds.
- annual variations
- Atlantic Ocean
- atmospheric circulation
- atmospheric precipitation
- D/H
- Europe
- evaporation
- global
- humidity
- hydrogen
- hydrology
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- meteoric water
- moisture
- monthly variations
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- sea-surface temperature
- spatial variations
- stable isotopes
- temperature
- winds