• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2014

An isotopic hydrograph separation technique has been able to determine the contribution of new water (event water such as rain or snowmelt) and old water (pre-event water like groundwater) to a stream hydrograph for last several decades using stable water isotopes. It is based on the assumption that the isotopic compositions of both new water and old water at a given instant in time are known and the stream water is a mixture of the two waters. In this study, we show that there is a systematic error (standard error in the new water fraction) in the isotopic hydrograph separation if the average isotopic compositions of new water were used ignoring the temporal variations of those of new water. The standard error in the new water fraction is caused by: (1) the isotopic difference between the average value and temporal variations of new water; (2) the new water fraction as runoff contributing to the stream during rainfall or spring melt; and (3) the isotopic differences between new and old water (inversely). The standard error is large, in particular, when new water dominates the stream flow, such as runoff during intense rainfall and in areas of low infiltration during spring melt. To reduce the error in the isotopic hydrograph separation, incorporation of fractionation in the isotopic composition of new water observed at a point should be considered with simultaneous sampling of new water, old water and stream water.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.286-288
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• 2006

삼중수소는 물분자중 수소원소의 동위원소로서 물의 유동연구에 가장 이상적인 추적자로서 활용된다. 이러한 삼중수소 분석결과는 지표수 지하수 상관관계 해석 및 지하수의 연대측정등 수문학 연구의 중요한 자료로 활용되고 있다. 지하수 연구에 필요한 삼중수소의 측정법을 확립코자 극저준위 액체섬광계수기를 도입하였으며 NIST 표준시료를 사용하여 실험방법을 확립하였다. 삼중수소의 측정효율은 25.7 % 였으며, 전기분해법을 사용하지 않고 단순 분리법만을 사용하였을 경우 10 ml의 측정 시료와 섬광액으로 Ultima-Gold LLT를 사용하여 0.18 Bq(1.5 TU)의 검출한계를 얻었다.