Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Survey of stable isotope values in Irish surface waters

  • Published:
Journal of Paleolimnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We present a study of the spatial distribution of δ18O and δD values of lake and river waters from 144 locations in Ireland. Before we can gain a better understanding of paleoclimate records derived from lacustrine carbonate minerals we must understand mechanisms that produce variation in isotope values of modern surface waters. The focus of this study is to provide insight into the behavior of lakes and rivers in Ireland, including source, recycling and loss through evapotranspiration. The short duration of sampling in this project provides a snapshot of modern isotope variability to be applied towards long-term climate change in Ireland and provides a basis of comparison for other proxy records.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. R.B. Alley P.A. Mayewski T. Sowers M. Stuiver F.C. Taylor P.U. Clark (1997) ArticleTitleHolocene climatic instability: a prominentwidespread event 8200 yr ago Geology 25 483–486 Occurrence Handle10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0483:HCIAPW>2.3.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. N.A. Allott (1986) ArticleTitleTemperatureoxygen and heat-budgets of six small western Irish lakes Freshwater Biol. 16 145–154

    Google Scholar 

  3. W.T. Anderson S.M. Bernasconi J.A. McKenzie M. Saurer F. Schweingruber (2002) ArticleTitleModel evaluation for reconstructing the oxygen isotopic composition in precipitation from tree ring cellulose over the last century Chem. Geol. 182 212–137 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0009-2541(01)00285-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. W.T. Anderson H.T. Mullins E. Ito (1997) ArticleTitleStable isotope record from Seneca LakeNew York: Evidence for a cold paleoclimate following the Younger Dryas Geology 25 135–138 Occurrence Handle10.1130/0091-7613(1997)025<0135:SIRFSL>2.3.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. D.Q. Bowen F.M. Phillips A.M. McCabe P.C. Knutz G.A. Sykes (2002) ArticleTitleNew data for the Last Glacial Maximum in Great Britain and Ireland Quat. Sci. Rev. 21 89–101 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00102-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. G.J. Bowen B. Wilkinson (2002) ArticleTitleSpatial distribution of isotopes in meteoric precipitation Geology 30 315–318 Occurrence Handle10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<0315:SDOOIM>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. A.W. Burnett M.E. Kirby H.T. Mullins W.P. Patterson (2003) ArticleTitleIncreasing Great Lake effect snowfall during the 20th century as a regional response to global warming J. Clim. 16 3535–3542 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<3535:IGLSDT>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. A.W. Burnett H.T. Mullins W.P. Patterson (2004) ArticleTitleRelationships between atmospheric circulation and winter precipitation in δ18O in central New York Geophys. Res. Let. 31 L22209 Occurrence Handle10.1029/2004GL021089

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. I.D. Clark P. Fritz (1997) Environmental isotopes in hydrogeology Lewis Publishers New York 328

    Google Scholar 

  10. C.E. Coxon (1987) ArticleTitleThe spatial distribution of turloughs Irish Geogr. 20 11–23

    Google Scholar 

  11. H. Craig (1961) ArticleTitleIsotopic variations in meteoric waters Science 133 1702–1703

    Google Scholar 

  12. W. Dansgaard (1964) ArticleTitleStable isotopes in precipitation Tellus 16 436–468

    Google Scholar 

  13. W. Dansgaard S.J. Johnsen H.B. Clausen D. Dahl-Jensen N.S. Gundestrup C.U. Hammer C.S. Hvidberg J.P. Steffernsen A.E. Sveinbjörnsdottir J. Jouzel G. Bond (1993) ArticleTitleEvidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record Nature 364 218–220 Occurrence Handle10.1038/364218a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. W.G. Darling A.H. Bath J.C. Talbot (2003) ArticleTitleThe O and H stable isotopic composition of fresh waters in the British Isles. 2. Surface waters and groundwater Hydro. Earth Sys. Sci. 7 183–195

    Google Scholar 

  15. D. Drew (1990) ArticleTitleThe hydrology of the Burren, county Clare Irish Geog. 23 69–89

    Google Scholar 

  16. D. Drew E. Magee (1994) ArticleTitleEnvironmental implications of land reclamation in the Burren, Co. Clare: a preliminary analysis Irish Geogr. 27 81–96

    Google Scholar 

  17. T.G. Fisher D.G. Smith J.T. Andrews (2002) ArticleTitlePreboreal oscillation caused by a glacial Lake Agassiz flood Quat. Sci. Rev. 21 873–878 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00148-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. H.C. Fricke J.R. Oȁ9Neil (1999) ArticleTitleThe correlation between 18O/16O ratios of meteoric water and surface temperature: its use in investigating terrestrial climate change over geologic time Earth Planetary Sci. Lett. 170 181–196 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00105-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. K. Fröhlich J.J. Gibson P. Aggarwal (2002) Deuterium excess in precipitation and its climatological significance. Study of Environmental Change Using Isotope Techniques International Atomic Energy Agency ViennaAustria 54–66

    Google Scholar 

  20. J.J. Gibson T.W.D. Edwards (2002) ArticleTitleRegional water balance trends and evaporation–transpiration partitioning from a stable isotope survey of lakes in northern Canada Global Biogeochem. Cycles 16 IssueID10 1–14 Occurrence Handle10.1029/2001GB001839

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. P.M. Grootes (1993) ArticleTitleInterpreting continental oxygen isotope records Amer. Geophys. UN. Mon. 78 37–46

    Google Scholar 

  22. J.W. Hurrell (1995) ArticleTitleDecadal trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: Regional temperatures and precipitation Science 269 676–679

    Google Scholar 

  23. J.W. Hurrell Y. Kushnir M. Visbeck (2001) ArticleTitleThe North Atlantic Oscillation Science 291 603–605

    Google Scholar 

  24. IAEA/WMO 2001. Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation. The GNIP Database. October2001. (http://isohis.iaea.org).

  25. C. Jordan (1997) ArticleTitleMapping of rainfall chemistry in Ireland Biol. Environ.: Proc. Royal Ir. Acad. 97 53–73

    Google Scholar 

  26. G. Kiely J.D. Albertson M.B. Parlange (1998) ArticleTitleRecent trends in diurnal variation of precipitation at Valentia on the west coast of Ireland J. Hydrol. 207 270–279 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0022-1694(98)00143-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. M.E. Kirby H.T. Mullins W.P. Patterson A.W. Burnett (2001) ArticleTitleLacustrine isotopic evidence for multidecadal natural climate variability related to the circumpolar vortex over the northeast United States during the past millennium Geology 29 807–810 Occurrence Handle10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029<0807:LIEFMN>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. M.E. Kirby W.P. Patterson H.T. Mullins A.W. Burnett (2002) ArticleTitlePost-Younger Dryas climate interval linked to circumpolar vortex variability: isotopic evidence from Fayetteville Green LakeNew York Clim. Dynam. 19 321–330 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s00382-002-0227-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. M.J. Leng J.D. Marshall (2004) ArticleTitlePalaeoclimate interpretation of stable isotope data from lake sediment archives Quat. Sci. Rev. 23 811–831 Occurrence Handle10.1016/j.quascirev.2003.06.012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. M. Magny C. Bégeot (2004) ArticleTitleHydrological changes in the European midlatitudes associated with freshwater outbursts from Lake Agassiz during the Younger Dryas event and the early Holocene Quat. Res. 61 181–192 Occurrence Handle10.1016/j.yqres.2003.12.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. F. McDermott D.P. Mattey C. Hawkesworth (2001) ArticleTitleCentennial-scale Holocene climate variability revealed by a high-resolution speleothem δ18O record from SW Ireland Science 294 1328–1331

    Google Scholar 

  32. M.A. McFadden H.T. Mullins W.P. Patterson W.T. Anderson (2004) ArticleTitlePaleoproductivity of eastern Lake Ontario over the past 10,000 years Limnol. Oceanogr. 49 1570–1581

    Google Scholar 

  33. MET 2004. Met Éireann, The Irish Meteorological Service. (http://www.met.ie/climate).

  34. G. Mills (2000) ArticleTitleModeling the water budget of Ireland-evapotranspiration and soil moisture Irish Geogr. 33 99–116

    Google Scholar 

  35. N.R. Moles R.T. Moles (2002) ArticleTitleInfluence of geology, glacial processes and land use on soil composition and Quaternary landscape evolution in The Burren National Park, Ireland Catena 47 291–321 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0341-8162(01)00190-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. NCDC 2004. Climate of 2003, 2003 in Historical Perspective. National Climatic Data Center (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2003/ann/ann03.html).

  37. T.N. Palmer J. Raisanen (2002) ArticleTitleQuantifying the risk of extreme seasonal precipitation events in a changing climate Nature 415 512–514 Occurrence Handle10.1038/415512a Occurrence Handle11823856

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. P.E. Sauer G.H. Miller J.T. Overpeck (2001) ArticleTitleOxygen isotope ratios of organic matter in arctic lakes as a paleoclimate proxy: field evidence and laboratory investigations J. Paleolimnol. 25 43–64 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1008133523139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. K. Rozanski L. Araguás-Araguás R. Gonfiantini (1993) ArticleTitleIsotopic patterns in modern global precipitation Amer. Geophys. UN. Mon. 78 1–36

    Google Scholar 

  40. H. Ziegler (1989) Hydrogen isotope fractionation in plant tissues P.W. Rundel J.R. Ehleringer K.A. Nagy (Eds) Stable Isotopes in Ecological ResearchEcological Studies 68 Springer-Verlag Berlin 105–123

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aaron F. Diefendorf .

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Diefendorf , A.F., Patterson, W.P. Survey of stable isotope values in Irish surface waters. J Paleolimnol 34, 257–269 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-005-3571-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-005-3571-1

Keywords

Navigation