Stable Carbon and Sulfur Isotope Characteristics of Stream Water in a Typical Karst Small Catchment, Southwest China

Abstract

Surface water samples from the Maolan National Natural Reserved Park (MNNRP) were analyzed from Sept. 2013 to June 2014, for major ion concentrations (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl−, SO42−, HCO3−), δ13C-DIC and δ34S-SO42− to quantify the sources of solutes and chemical weathering. The results show that HCO3− and SO42− are the main anions in Banzhai watershed, which account for 86.2 and 10.4% of the total anion equivalent, respectively. While Ca2+ and Mg2+ account for 76.9 and 20.5%, respectively. Considerable Mg2+ in stream water indicates that it may be affected by dolomite weathering. stream water samples present the δ13C-DIC values in the range of −16.9‰~−10.8‰ (mean value was −13.9‰), which were lower than that of the groundwater. The δ34S-SO42− values ranged from −15.2‰ to 1.7‰ (mean value was −4.4‰). There was a negative correlation between HCO3− content and δ13C value, implying the result of the interaction of temperature and precipitation intensity in different seasons. The significant positive correlation between SO42− content and δ13C-DIC indicates that H2SO4 may be involved in the weathering process of carbonate rocks in small watershed scale. The content of SO42− in a school sample site was much higher than that of other sample sites for the interference from human sources. The δ34S values show that the average δ34S-SO42− in most sites is close to the δ34S isotopic values of Guizhou coal and rain, indicating that they may be affected by local coal.