Identifying evaporation fractionation and streamflow components based on stable isotopes in the Kaidu River Basin with mountain–oasis system in north‐west China

Abstract

AbstractBased on stable isotopes in stream water, groundwater, and meltwater in the Kaidu River Basin, NW China, we estimated the evaporation enrichment of stable oxygen isotopes in different types of water and separated the contribution of each streamflow component in river run‐off. Our results indicated that δ18O and δ2H in stream water did not vary with altitude regularly but with seasons, with low concentrations in spring and high concentrations in summer. However, the seasonal variations of δ18O and δ2H in groundwater were not as obvious. The mean evaporation enrichment was between 26% and 44% for δ18O. Of the various water types under investigation, we found glaciers were influenced the most, showing an evaporation enrichment of 44%, followed by oasis groundwater (37%), stream water (36%), and mountain groundwater (26%). Overall, meltwater and groundwater were the predominant streamflow components, with their contributions were governed by temperature, and varied both temporally and specially. In the oasis region, groundwater was the predominant contributor (64% in spring, 50% in summer, and 66% in autumn), whereas in the mountains, groundwater was the dominant in spring (53%) and autumn (51%), and meltwater contributed the most in summer (52%). Precipitation contributed less than 15% to the streamflow.