Comment on “Origin of water in the Badain Jaran Desert, China: new insight from isotopes” by Wu et al. (2017)
<p>Precipitation isotope data were used to determine the origin of groundwater in the Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) in the study of Wu et al. (2017). Both precipitation and its isotope composition vary seasonally, so arithmetic averages of precipitation isotope values poorly represent the isot...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2018-08-01
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| Series: | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/22/4449/2018/hess-22-4449-2018.pdf |
| Summary: | <p>Precipitation isotope data were used to determine the origin of
groundwater in the Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) in the study of Wu et
al. (2017). Both precipitation and its isotope composition vary seasonally,
so arithmetic averages of precipitation isotope values poorly represent the
isotope composition of meteoric water. Their finding that the BJD groundwater
is recharged by modern meteoric water from local areas including the
southeastern adjacent mountains was based on arithmetic averaging. However,
this conclusion is not supported by the corrected mean precipitation isotope
values, which are weighted by the precipitation rate. Indeed, the available
isotopic evidence shows that modern precipitation on the Qilian Mountains is
more likely to be the main source of the groundwater and lake water in the
BJD, as found by Chen et al. (2004).</p> |
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| ISSN: | 1027-5606 1607-7938 |