Application of Stable Isotope Tracer to Study Runoff Generation during Different Types of Rainfall Events

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to explore the runoff generation mechanism and isotopic variation of precipitation during typhoon and plum rain events in the mountainous region mainly covered with bamboo in southeastern China. The isotopic value of precipitation in plum rain events is more depleted than that of precipitation in typhoon events and has a larger range of d-excess. Typhoon events are affected by frequent temperate and tropical cyclones, the ocean evaporationis expected to be very intenseand marine air parcels move very quickly. As for plum rain events, marine air parcel moves slowly due to the blocking effect of the cold front and air moisture evaporated from the continent plays a significant role in the isotope of precipitation depletion process. The difference of stable isotope values in various water sources allows the two-component hydrological separation to quantify the contribution of the event and pre-event water. The results indicate that the pre-event water accounts for at least 60% of the discharge and the difference in proportion of pre-event water between different types of rain events suggests that the initial state of watershed, rainfall intensity and macropore flow are major control factors of the runoff production mechanism.

Keywords

• stable isotope
• precipitation
• hydrograph separation
• Hemuqiao watershed
• typhoon event
• plum rain event