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Environmental isotopes applied to the evaluation and quantification of evaporation processes in wetlands: a case study in the Ajó Coastal Plain wetland, Argentina

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Abstract

In the Ajó coastal plain, which occurs in the south of the Samborombón Bay, Argentina, certain sectors of the wetland are influenced by the tidal flow, whereas others are not. In the tidally restricted Ajó wetlands, the evapotranspiration process is one of the most important components of the water balance due to fact that the flat morphology and low soil permeability make the flow of surface and groundwater difficult. Although evaporation is an important component of evapotranspiration, a quantitative estimation of this process is still lacking or poorly known. In this work, we quantify the evaporation term in the tidally restricted wetlands by applying isotopic modelling and assessing the hydrological response of the wetland by means of other methodologies, such as satellite imaging and level measurements. The results show that during deficit periods, the total evaporation ranges between 10 and 33 % of the local precipitation. In groundwater samples, it fluctuates between 2 and 13 %, whereas in surface water it varies between 8 and 20 %. Analyses of the water budget, satellite images and water level time series provide evidence on how evaporation processes regulate the hydrology of the wetland. The water balance suggests the occurrence of a deficit period, in which the satellite images show a reduction of the waterlogged areas and lakes, and a lowering in surface and groundwater level is recorded.

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Acknowledgments

This work was developed under the Scientific Cooperation Agreement between the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Argentina) and the National Research Council (CNR, Italy), 2013–2014 period, within the Project “Fresh/salt waters in high-value coastlands: from the hydrogeophysical/geochemical characterization of the present interactions to the modeling quantification of the expected effects of climate changes.” Satellite images were obtained from the US Geological Survey—Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas (CIG), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    E. Carol

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Cátedra de Hidrología General, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 64 no. 3, La Plata, Argentina

    E. Carol & E. Kruse

  3. Istituto di Scienze Marine, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Arsenale Tesa 104, Castello 2737/F, 30122, Venice, Italy

    F. Braga, C. Da Lio & L. Tosi

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  1. E. Carol
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  2. F. Braga
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  4. E. Kruse
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  5. L. Tosi
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Correspondence to E. Carol.

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Carol, E., Braga, F., Da Lio, C. et al. Environmental isotopes applied to the evaluation and quantification of evaporation processes in wetlands: a case study in the Ajó Coastal Plain wetland, Argentina. Environ Earth Sci 74, 5839–5847 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4601-6

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