Quantitative evaluation of the rainfall influence on streamflow in an inland mountainous river basin within Central Asia |
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| Authors: | Congjian Sun Yaning Chen Wei Chen Weibo Liu Yongqing Zhang |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Geographical Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Urumqi, China;3. Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Hebei Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water-Saving, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, China;4. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Urumqi, China;5. Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA |
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| Abstract: | Stable isotopes of water have been widely used in understanding the hydrological functions of alpine inland catchments. This study identifies dominant runoff generation mechanisms based on isotopic data (δ18O and δ2H) of 487 rainwater and river-water samples from three tributaries in the Tarim River Basin in China for the period May–September 2013. The isotope hydrograph separation results provide a comprehensive overview of the rainfall influence on hydrological processes. Stream water and groundwater have varied responses to different intensities of rainfall events. Only a small proportion of rainfall is directly transported to the stream during such events. An inconsistent temporal trend of event water contribution is observed in the three catchments. The average fractional contributions of rainfall for the Tizinafu, Kumalak and Huangshuigou rivers are 10.3% (±1.1%), 9.7% (±2.9%) and 8.7% (±2.4%), respectively. |
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| Keywords: | isotopic hydrograph separation inland river event water contribution rainfall–streamflow generation processes |
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