Using 18O/2H, 3H/3He, 85Kr and CFCs to determine mean residence times and water origin in the Grazer and Leibnitzer Feld groundwater bodies (Austria)

Two groundwater bodies, Grazer Feld and Leibnitzer Feld, with surface areas of 166 and 103 km2 respectively are characterised for the first time by measuring the combination of δ18O/δ2H, 3H/3He, 85Kr, CFC-11, CFC-12 and hydrochemistry in 34 monitoring wells in 2009/2010. The timescales of groundwater recharge have been characterised by 131 δ18O measurements of well and surface water sampled on a seasonal basis. Most monitoring wells show a seasonal variation or indicate variable contributions of the main river Mur (0–30%, max. 70%) and/or other rivers having their recharge areas in higher altitudes. Combined δ18O/δ2H-measurements indicate that 65–75% of groundwater recharge in the unusual wet year of 2009 was from precipitation in the summer based on values from the Graz meteorological station. Monitoring wells downstream of gravel pit lakes show a clear evaporation trend. A boron–nitrate differentiation plot shows more frequent boron-rich water in the more urbanised Grazer Feld and more frequent nitrate-rich water in the more agricultural used Leibnitzer Feld indicating that a some of the nitrate load in the Grazer Feld comes from urban sewer water. Several lumped parameter models based on tritium input data from Graz and monthly data from the river Mur (Spielfeld) since 1977 yield a Mean Residence Time (MRT) for the Mur-water itself between 3 and 4 years in this area. Data from δ18O, 3H/3He measurements at the Wagna lysimeter station supports the conclusion that 90% of the groundwaters in the Grazer Feld and 73% in the Leibnitzer Feld have MRTs of 20 m) with relative thicker unsaturated zones. The young MRT of groundwater from two monitoring wells in the Leibnitzer Feld was confirmed by 85Kr-measurements. Most CFC-11 and CFC-12 concentrations in the groundwater exceed the equilibration concentrations of modern concentrations in water and are therefore unsuitable for dating purposes. An enrichment factor up to 100 compared to atmospheric equilibrium concentrations and the obvious correlation of CFC-12 with SO4, Na, Cl and B in the ground waters of the Grazer Feld suggest that waste water in contact with CFC-containing material above and below ground is the source for the contamination. The dominance of very young groundwater (<5 years) indicates a recent origin of the contamination by nitrate and many other components observed in parts of the groundwater bodies. Rapid measures to reduce those sources are needed to mitigate against further deterioration of these waters

Hydrologische Modellierung auf der Lysimeterskala: 4.1. Identifizierung von Heterogenit&auml;ten des Wassertransports in der unges&auml;ttigten Zone von Lysimetern.

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Environmental isotope (Y&sup1;⁸O) and hydrological data to assess water flow in unsaturated soils planted with different crops: Case study lysimeter station &quot;Wagna&quot; (Austria).

Modelling variable soil water fluxes and transport processes under natural conditions in the unsaturated zone is often restricted and difficult to perform. Highly sophisticated numerical models are required and numerous parameters are needed. However, these parameters are difficult to estimate especially for heterogeneous systems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether a simple lumped parameter approach is applicable in the unsaturated zone of cropped soils. The environmental isotope contents of delta O-18 and delta H-2 were used as tracers to study the flow processes in two lysimeters containing the same soil and planted with different crops (maize monoculture and crop rotation). The results from lumped parameter modelling were compared with those obtained with a numerical model approach. It was shown that the lumped parameter approach is, to some extent, applicable in the unsaturated zone. The simulations of the isotope contents in the discharge gave a general trend of mean transit times when the estimation of the tracer concentration in the inflow (input function) was weighted according to the amount of precipitation as well as when the observation period was separated into single vegetation periods. The resulting flow and transport parameters were similar to those from numerical modelling. The lumped model yielded adequate results particularly during the winter periods with grass cover. Although filled with the same soil material, different hydraulic flow systems were established in both lysimeters due to the differences in crop growth. In general, smaller fluxes were observed during crop rotation compared to maize monoculture whereas the smallest fluxes were found for canola

A comprehensive filtering scheme for high-resolution estimation of the water balance components from high-precision lysimeters

Large weighing lysimeters are currently the most precise method to directly measure all components of the terrestrial water balance in parallel via the built-in weighing system. As lysimeters are exposed to several external forces such as management practices or wind influencing the weighing data, the calculated fluxes of precipitation and evapotranspiration can be altered considerably without having applied appropriate corrections to the raw data. Therefore, adequate filtering schemes for obtaining most accurate estimates of the water balance components are required. In this study, we use data from the TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories) SoilCan research site in Bad Lauchstädt to develop a comprehensive filtering procedure for high-precision lysimeter data, which is designed to deal with various kinds of possible errors starting from the elimination of large disturbances in the raw data resulting e.g., from management practices all the way to the reduction of noise caused e.g., by moderate wind. Furthermore, we analyze the influence of averaging times and thresholds required by some of the filtering steps on the calculated water balance and investigate the ability of two adaptive filtering methods (the adaptive window and adaptive threshold filter (AWAT filter; Peters et al., 2014), and a new synchro filter applicable to the data from a set of several lysimeters) to further reduce the filtering error. Finally, we take advantage of the data sets of all 18 lysimeters running in parallel at the Bad Lauchstädt site to evaluate the performance and accuracy of the proposed filtering scheme. For the tested time interval of 2 months, we show that the estimation of the water balance with high temporal resolution and good accuracy is possible. The filtering code can be downloaded from the journal website as Supplement to this publication

High-resolution estimation of the water balance components from high-precision lysimeters

Lysimeters offer the opportunity to determine precipitation, evapotranspiration and groundwater-recharge with high accuracy. In contrast to other techniques, like Eddy-flux systems or evaporation pans, lysimeters provide a direct measurement of evapotranspiration from a clearly defined surface area at the scale of a soil profile via the built-in weighing system. In particular the estimation of precipitation can benefit from the much higher surface area compared to typical raingauge systems. Nevertheless, lysimeters are exposed to several external influences that could falsify the calculated fluxes. Therefore, the estimation of the relevant fluxes requires an appropriate data processing with respect to various error sources. Most lysimeter studies account for noise in the data by averaging. However, the effects of smoothing by averaging on the accuracy of the estimated water balance is rarely investigated. In this study, we present a filtering scheme, which is designed to deal with the various kinds of possible errors. We analyze the influence of averaging times and thresholds on the calculated water balance. We further investigate the ability of two adaptive filtering methods (the Adaptive Window and Adaptive Threshold filter (AWAT-filter) (Peters et al., 2014) and the consecutively described synchro-filter) in further reducing the filtering error. On the basis of the data sets of 18 simultanously running lysimeters of the TERENO SoilCan research site in Bad Lauchstädt, we show that the estimation of the water balance with high temporal resolution and good accuracy is possible