Estimating the contribution of glacial meltwater to Ranwu Lake, a proglacial lake in SE Tibet, using observation data and stable isotopic analyses

Abstract

It is important for both current monitoring and paleoenvironmental research conducted on proglacial lakes and their adjacent glaciers to clarify the hydrological processes operating on these lakes. However, in remote regions with limited accessibility it may be difficult to study hydrological processes by direct monitoring. In this study, we use measurements of stable isotopic compositions to trace the multiple water sources contributing to Ranwu Lake, a proglacial lake in south-eastern Tibet. Using stable isotopic data from precipitation, inflowing rivers and the lake water, a water and isotope mass balance modelling method was used to calculate the ratio of evaporation to input. Subsequently, using hydrological and climatic data for the outflow, the largest inflow and precipitation, other hydrological elements of the lake water balance were also calculated. The results demonstrate that the ratio of evaporation to inflow is as low as 0.009, the lowest value observed for the Tibetan Plateau, indicating that Ranwu Lake is a through-flow lake with a very short retention time. Glacial meltwater accounts for at least 55% of total runoff, the highest value observed for the Tibetan Plateau, indicating that the sediments of Ranwu Lake may have considerable potential for reconstructing variations in the activity of the local glaciers. Finally, we note that it may be inappropriate in this glacier-fed lake to use the intersection of the local meteoric water line with the lake water line for determining the isotopic composition of the input water, and this possibility must be carefully considered when stable isotope mass modelling is used in proglacial lakes.