DOI: 10.5194/hess-20-4757-2016
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-85001975454
论文题名: Contrasting transit times of water from peatlands and eucalypt forests in the Australian Alps determined by tritium: Implications for vulnerability and the source of water in upland catchments
作者: Cartwright I ; , Morgenstern U
刊名: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
ISSN: 10275606
出版年: 2016
卷: 20, 期: 12 起始页码: 4757
结束页码: 4773
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: Aquifers
; Carbon
; Catchments
; Lithology
; Organic carbon
; Positive ions
; Rain
; Rivers
; Runoff
; Silicates
; Tritium
; Weathering
; Wetlands
; Eucalypt forest
; Major ion geochemistries
; Mean transit time
; River systems
; Seasonal recharges
; Silicate weathering
; Source of waters
; Upland catchment
; Forestry
; biogeochemistry
; chemical weathering
; deciduous forest
; forested catchment
; grassland
; lithology
; peatland
; rainfall
; silicate
; tritium
; upland region
; vulnerability
; Australia
; Australian Alps
英文摘要: Peatlands are a distinctive and important component of many upland regions that commonly contain distinctive flora and fauna which are different from those of adjacent forests and grasslands. Peatlands also represent a significant long-term store of organic carbon. While their environmental importance has long since been recognised, water transit times within peatlands are not well understood. This study uses tritium (3H) to estimate the mean transit times of water from peatlands and from adjacent gullies that contain eucalypt forests in the Victorian Alps (Australia). The 3H activities of the peatland water range from 2.7 to 3.3 tritium units (TUs), which overlap the measured (2.9 to 3.0 TU) and expected (2.8 to 3.2 TU) average 3H activities of rainfall in this region. Even accounting for seasonal recharge by rainfall with higher 3H activities, the mean transit times of the peatland waters are <6.5 years and may be less than 2 years. Water from adjacent eucalypt forest streams has 3H activities of 1.6 to 2.1 TU, implying much longer mean transit times of 5 to 29 years. Cation/Cl and Si/Cl ratios are higher in the eucalypt forest streams than the peatland waters and both of these water stores have higher cation/Cl and Si/Cl ratios than rainfall. The major ion geochemistry reflects the degree of silicate weathering in these catchments that is controlled by both transit times and aquifer lithology. The short transit times imply that, unlike the eucalypt forests, the peatlands do not represent a long-lived store of water for the local river systems. Additionally, the peatlands are susceptible to drying out during drought, which renders them vulnerable to damage by the periodic bushfires that occur in this region. © Author(s) 2016. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/78676
Appears in Collections: 气候变化事实与影响
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作者单位: School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia; National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Flinders University, G.P.O. box 2100, Adelaide, SA, Australia; Isotope Hydrology and Water Dating Lab, GNS Science, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Recommended Citation:
Cartwright I,, Morgenstern U. Contrasting transit times of water from peatlands and eucalypt forests in the Australian Alps determined by tritium: Implications for vulnerability and the source of water in upland catchments[J]. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences,2016-01-01,20(12)