Abstract Title
The Effects of Elevation and Evaporation on Soil Water Isotopic Composition Across the Cascades and Rocky Mountains
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by a student grant from the UI Office of Undergraduate Research.
Abstract
The increasing effects of climate change are becoming apparent in yearly precipitation and evaporation rates, and this is affecting not only soil health, but also groundwater reservoirs (Konapala et al., 2020). An isotopic composition map constructed using soil water samples will be pivotal to understanding the rates of both precipitation and evaporation, and the distribution of areas that are and will continue to be affected by climate change. This isoscape will be useful as a baseline for current paleo-elevation studies, as it will be more accurate than isoscapes constructed with river water data, which is more prevalent and easier to collect, but skewed by water inputs from outside the local area. This isoscape will also be used to determine the amount of water being lost at various locations across the region due to evaporation. Soil water is a more accurate local sample than river water as soils tend to incorporate only local precipitation waters, much like the geologic proxy materials. It also averages rainfall over multiple years (Breecker et al., 2009).
The Effects of Elevation and Evaporation on Soil Water Isotopic Composition Across the Cascades and Rocky Mountains
The increasing effects of climate change are becoming apparent in yearly precipitation and evaporation rates, and this is affecting not only soil health, but also groundwater reservoirs (Konapala et al., 2020). An isotopic composition map constructed using soil water samples will be pivotal to understanding the rates of both precipitation and evaporation, and the distribution of areas that are and will continue to be affected by climate change. This isoscape will be useful as a baseline for current paleo-elevation studies, as it will be more accurate than isoscapes constructed with river water data, which is more prevalent and easier to collect, but skewed by water inputs from outside the local area. This isoscape will also be used to determine the amount of water being lost at various locations across the region due to evaporation. Soil water is a more accurate local sample than river water as soils tend to incorporate only local precipitation waters, much like the geologic proxy materials. It also averages rainfall over multiple years (Breecker et al., 2009).