Snow Stable Isotope Composition Variability Related to the Upper Mendoza River Basin Hypsometry

GONZALO NAVARRO; S. CRESPO; JULIETA N. ARANIBAR

International Journal of Advanced Research in Chemical Science

ACADEMICIANS' RESEARCH CENTER

Año: 2017 vol. 4 p. 1 - 9

2349-0403

p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }The water supply ofthe northern oasis of the Mendoza province, in the central westernof Argentina, depends mainly on the melting of precipitated andaccumulated snow during the winter, which supplies water fordomestic, industrial and energy consumption to 64% of the provincialpopulation (more than 1.2 million inhabitants). The solidprecipitation stable isotopes composition in mountain regions isaffected by isotopic fractionation processes generated bycontinentally effects, temperature, evaporation during precipitationand isotopic elution phenomena during melting, among others,complicating efforts to quantify sources using stable isotopes asnatural tracers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the stableisotopes composition of snowfall in an altitude gradient in theCordillera Principal, Upper Mendoza River basin. We did not find analtitude effect on stable isotope composition of snow, widelyreported in previous studies. Variability was related to the originof precipitation events. These results validate the use of stableisotopes as tracers of different water sources as glaciers,permafrost, groundwater or snow in Cordillera Principal, to quantifycontributions from different sources to river flow.