Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia
Obtaining a better understanding of groundwater dynamics in permafrost zones is a critical issue in permafrost hydrology. This includes assessing the impacts of climate change on permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt. Both permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt can be related to groundwater discharges (i...
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2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:07b64f672de24bd1836f453a5aab6741 2023-09-05T13:20:06+02:00 Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia Tetsuya Hiyama Avirmed Dashtseren Kazuyoshi Asai Hironari Kanamori Yoshihiro Iijima Mamoru Ishikawa 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 https://doaj.org/article/07b64f672de24bd1836f453a5aab6741 EN eng IOP Publishing https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/07b64f672de24bd1836f453a5aab6741 Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 1, p 015008 (2021) permafrost thaw ground ice-melt water thermokarst atmospheric water budget tritium (3H) chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 2023-08-13T00:37:20Z Obtaining a better understanding of groundwater dynamics in permafrost zones is a critical issue in permafrost hydrology. This includes assessing the impacts of climate change on permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt. Both permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt can be related to groundwater discharges (i.e. spring discharges), and spring water is an important local water resource; accordingly, changes in these processes can have large impacts on local people and their subsistence activities. To detect permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt in the permafrost zone of Mongolia, groundwater ages of several spring discharges were determined using two transient tracers: tritium ( ^3 H) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Spring water samples were collected seasonally from 2015 to 2019 at seven spring sites around the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia. The sites included two thermokarst landscapes on the northern and southern sides of the mountains. The ^3 H and CFC concentrations in the spring water in the thermokarst landscapes were very low, especially on the southern side of the mountains, and the estimated mean groundwater age for these sites was older than that for the other sampled springs. Consequently, the young water ratios of the thermokarst sites were lower than those for the other springs. This ratio, however, showed a gradual increase with time, which indicates that recently recharged rainwater began to contribute to the spring discharge at the thermokarst sites. An atmospheric water budget analysis indicated that net recharge from modern and recent precipitation to shallow groundwater in the summer season was almost zero on the southern side of the mountains. Thus, we inferred that the spring water at the thermokarst sites on the southern side of the mountains contained large amounts of ground ice-melt water. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Thermokarst Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Environmental Research Letters 16 1 015008 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
permafrost thaw ground ice-melt water thermokarst atmospheric water budget tritium (3H) chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
spellingShingle |
permafrost thaw ground ice-melt water thermokarst atmospheric water budget tritium (3H) chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 Tetsuya Hiyama Avirmed Dashtseren Kazuyoshi Asai Hironari Kanamori Yoshihiro Iijima Mamoru Ishikawa Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
topic_facet |
permafrost thaw ground ice-melt water thermokarst atmospheric water budget tritium (3H) chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Science Q Physics QC1-999 |
description |
Obtaining a better understanding of groundwater dynamics in permafrost zones is a critical issue in permafrost hydrology. This includes assessing the impacts of climate change on permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt. Both permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt can be related to groundwater discharges (i.e. spring discharges), and spring water is an important local water resource; accordingly, changes in these processes can have large impacts on local people and their subsistence activities. To detect permafrost thaw and ground ice-melt in the permafrost zone of Mongolia, groundwater ages of several spring discharges were determined using two transient tracers: tritium ( ^3 H) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Spring water samples were collected seasonally from 2015 to 2019 at seven spring sites around the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia. The sites included two thermokarst landscapes on the northern and southern sides of the mountains. The ^3 H and CFC concentrations in the spring water in the thermokarst landscapes were very low, especially on the southern side of the mountains, and the estimated mean groundwater age for these sites was older than that for the other sampled springs. Consequently, the young water ratios of the thermokarst sites were lower than those for the other springs. This ratio, however, showed a gradual increase with time, which indicates that recently recharged rainwater began to contribute to the spring discharge at the thermokarst sites. An atmospheric water budget analysis indicated that net recharge from modern and recent precipitation to shallow groundwater in the summer season was almost zero on the southern side of the mountains. Thus, we inferred that the spring water at the thermokarst sites on the southern side of the mountains contained large amounts of ground ice-melt water. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tetsuya Hiyama Avirmed Dashtseren Kazuyoshi Asai Hironari Kanamori Yoshihiro Iijima Mamoru Ishikawa |
author_facet |
Tetsuya Hiyama Avirmed Dashtseren Kazuyoshi Asai Hironari Kanamori Yoshihiro Iijima Mamoru Ishikawa |
author_sort |
Tetsuya Hiyama |
title |
Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
title_short |
Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
title_full |
Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
title_fullStr |
Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the Khangai Mountains in central Mongolia |
title_sort |
groundwater age of spring discharges under changing permafrost conditions: the khangai mountains in central mongolia |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 https://doaj.org/article/07b64f672de24bd1836f453a5aab6741 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters, Vol 16, Iss 1, p 015008 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 https://doaj.org/toc/1748-9326 doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 1748-9326 https://doaj.org/article/07b64f672de24bd1836f453a5aab6741 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abd1a1 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
1 |
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015008 |
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1776200829200498688 |