BY

ANJALA NASREEN Z.
B160765CE
A BATCH

1
 Isotope hydrology is a field of hydrology that uses
isotopic dating to estimate the age and origins of water
and of movement within the hydrologic cycle.

 Applications of isotopes in hydrology are based on the

general concept of “tracing”, in which either
intentionally introduce isotopes or naturally occurring
(environmental) are employed.

2
Isotopes are variants
of a particular
chemical element
which differ in atomic
weights, and have
same atomic number.

3
 TRACERS
•A tracer is a substance, which is present only in
trace concentrations and marks a trace in a natural
system (marker).

•ENVIRONMENTAL AND ARTIFICIAL TRACERS.

•The term "environmental tracers" is mainly used

to distinguish them from "artificial tracers", both of
which are often simply called tracers but are used
in quite different settings and by largely different
researchers.
• Artificial tracers : released deliberately .
• Environmental tracers : naturally occuring.
• Isotopes are often nearly ideal tracers.
4
 RADIO ACTIVE ISOTOPE:
Found using dating .

STABLE ISOTOPE:
Mass difference is measured using
Mass spectrometer.

5
 Most nuclei are actually unstable and undergo radioactive decay.

 There are several different modes of radioactive decay. Particularly

important for the isotopes that are applied in hydrology are the α and
β- decay.

 an α-decay an α-particle, which is nothing else than the very stable

4He nucleus, is emitted. The proton and neutron numbers of the
decaying nuclide are thus both reduced by 2, and the mass number
is reduced by 4.

 In a β--decay a β--particle, which is nothing else than an electron, is

emitted, and a neutron is converted to a proton. Consequently, the
proton number is enlarged by 1 while the neutron number is reduced
by 1, and the mass number remains the same.

6
 The stable isotopes deuterium and 18O as well as the
radioactive tritium are direct markers of the water
molecule.
 The half-lives of the radioisotopes cover a wide
range from the short-lived 222Rn (3.8 days) to the
long-lived 36Cl (308 year).Consequently a wide
range of ages is at least in principle accessible for
dating by radioisotopes in water.
 In addition to dating, many (stable) isotopes can be
used as markers and to obtain information about the
conditions during the formation of a water mass.

7
 Radioactive decay: Direct use of the decay law with the
difficulty of knowing the initial (activity) concentration Co.
 Mother-daughter pair: Combined determination of the
decaying radioisotope and its accumulating stable
daughter, solving the problem of C0 (which equals the
constant sum of mother and daughter).
 Accumulation: Observation of only the accumulation of a
stable radiogenic daughter isotope, with the problem of
knowing the production and accumulation rate.
 Input variation: Using the time information in the variable
input history of transient anthropogenic tracers. Examples
are 3H, 85Kr, CFCs, and SF6.

8
THE HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE

9
A basic tool of hydrology is to set up a water
balance for a catchment.

 Theprocesses of interest for the hydrological

water balance are precipitation, evaporation,
evapotranspiration, surface discharge, and
groundwater recharge (infiltration).

10
 During evaporation and condensation, the
concentration of oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in a
water molecule undergo small changes.

 As a result, in different parts of the hydrologic cycle,

water is naturally tagged with isotopic fingerprints,
which vary according to the history of a particular
body of water and its route through the hydrologic
cycle.

 When water from the ocean evaporates, the heavier

isotopes will condense first and fall as rain before the
lighter ones.

11
 Most water vapour in the atmosphere is generated over
oceans. Thus, the further rain falls from the coast, the
fewer heavy isotopes it contains.

 The isotopes of pollutants, such as trace metals, or

chemical compounds dissolved in water, also offer
clues about its origin.

 Isotopes open a window onto extended periods of

weather events over thousands of years.

 Their signatures are preserved wherever the water

cycle is recorded, in ocean and lake sediments, tree
rings, glaciers and ice caps, deposits in caves and
groundwater.

12
 . Isotopes are a powerful tool and can be also used to
investigate dam and reservoir leakage, to help
determine the source of water pollution, and to identify
suitable underground reservoirs for steam supply to
geothermal plants.

 Nuclear science is able to distinguish them using mass

spectrometry to “weigh” them.

13
 Determination of the origin of water masses and the
conditions during formation.
 Identification and separation of water components
 Determination of groundwater recharge areas, flow paths, mixing
 Determination of the origin of contaminants
 Reconstruction of recharge temperatures for palaeoclimate
studies

 Determination of the residence time of water in the

system ("water age")
 Calculation of flow velocities, assessing mixing and dispersion
 Determination of water fluxes, recharge rates, and exchange rates
 Study of transport and degradation of contaminants

14
 The use of stable isotopes to determine the age of ice or snow,
which can help indicate the conditions of the climate in the past.

 ISOTOPES ARE MAINLY USED:

 Recharge Mechanism of groundwater:

Identification of groundwater recharge sources.
Recharge areas.
Mixing of different water sources.

 Groundwater Dating:
Identification of modern recharge.
Groundwater movement and residence time.
Infiltration rates in unsaturated zone.
Identification of paleowaters.
Delineation of protection zones.

15
 Groundwater pollution and salinization:
Identification of pollution sources.
Origin of nitrates.
Origin of groundwater salinity.
Microbial denitrification processes.
Mixing of sea water .

 Dam safety & sustainability:

Leakage /seepage problems.
Effect of dam reservoir on surrounding areas.

16
 The isotope hydrology program at the International Atomic
Energy Agency works to aid developing states (including 84
projects in more than 50 countries) and to create a detailed
portrait of Earth's water resources.

 A regional project in Latin America involves 30 institutions

in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and
Uruguay that are now using isotopic and conventional
techniques to gather data about an aquifer system.

 An arsenic pollution crisis in Bangladesh that the World

Health Organization calls the "largest mass poisoning of a
population in history" has been investigated using this
technique.

17
 Isotope hydrology is a very cost effective means to assess
the vulnerability of groundwater sources to pollution.
 By determining how rapidly the water is moving and where
in the system is being recharged, isotopes provide critical
information to guide decisions on where to extract water.
 Only with precise information on the availability and
renewability of water resources can country makes sound
decisions about sustainable water resources management.
Isotopes provide unique information about water resources
characteristics in a cost efficient, accurate and easy-to-use
way.
 Isotopes are water’s fingerprints.

18