Seasonal and spatial variability in δ18O and δD values in waters of the Godavari River basin: Insights into hydrological processes

Frédérique M.S.A. Kirkels; Huub M. Zwart; Sayak Basu; Muhammed O. Usman; Francien Peterse

doi:10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100706

Seasonal and spatial variability in δ¹⁸O and δD values in waters of the Godavari River basin: Insights into hydrological processes

Frédérique M.S.A. Kirkels^*, Huub M. Zwart, Sayak Basu, Muhammed O. Usman, Francien Peterse

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Study region: The Godavari River is the largest non-Himalayan, monsoon-fed river in India, providing water resources for ∼75 million people. Study focus: Stable isotopes of Godavari River water in a pre-monsoon (dry) and monsoon (wet) season are used to evaluate seasonal and spatial dynamics and gain insights into hydrological processes, provenance and pathways of river water from source to sea. New hydrological insights: Godavari River water isotopes shift from an evaporation- to precipitation-controlled signature between the pre-monsoon and monsoon season (p ≤ 0.001). Godavari waters plot below Global and Local Meteoric Water Lines (p ≤ 0.01), highlighting the importance of evaporation. In the monsoon season, low δ¹⁸O and δD values in the downstream catchment reflect an amount/convective effect caused by Southwest monsoonal rainfall. Continuously enriched signatures in the Upper Godavari suggest year-round evaporation due to a rainfall deficit and abundant dams creating stagnant waters. The Godavari ultimately discharges an integrated, monsoon signal into the Bay of Bengal. River depth profiles reveal that Godavari waters are well-mixed in both seasons. In the pre-monsoon season, Godavari water isotopes suggest basin-wide evaporation and seawater intrusion in the delta. A data compilation (n = 399) of δ¹⁸O and δD values in Indian Rivers reveals a strong seasonality for the Godavari River. The spatio-temporal patterns in Godavari River water isotopes confirm their suitability as sensitive recorders of monsoon precipitation variability and hydrological processes within monsoon-fed rivers.

Original language	English
Article number	100706
Number of pages	25
Journal	Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
Volume	30
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100706
Publication status	Published - Aug 2020

Funding

This research was supported by the Dutch Research Council [NWO-Veni Grant No. 863.13.016 to F.P]. In India, we thank the drivers Munna and Abdul for logistical assistance and Prof. Prasanta Sanyal of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata for general support to work in the Godavari Basin. ETH Zurich (Switzerland) is acknowledged for the use of the depth sampler, and Dr. Maarten Lupker for his guidance in the field and on the use of this instrument. For preparation of the fieldwork materials and river fieldwork assistance, we are grateful for the help provided by Chris Martes. We thank Piet van Gaever for technical support to measure δ 18 O and δD at the Royal Dutch Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands. We acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT model ( http://www.ready.noaa.gov ) used in this publication. We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

Keywords

Evaporation
Godavari River
River connectivity
Spatio-temporal patterns
Water isotopes
Water provenance

Access to Document

10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100706

1-s2.0-S2214581820301804-mainFinal published version, 23 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Seasonal and spatial variability in δ18O and δD values in waters of the Godavari River basin: Insights into hydrological processes",

abstract = "Study region: The Godavari River is the largest non-Himalayan, monsoon-fed river in India, providing water resources for ∼75 million people. Study focus: Stable isotopes of Godavari River water in a pre-monsoon (dry) and monsoon (wet) season are used to evaluate seasonal and spatial dynamics and gain insights into hydrological processes, provenance and pathways of river water from source to sea. New hydrological insights: Godavari River water isotopes shift from an evaporation- to precipitation-controlled signature between the pre-monsoon and monsoon season (p ≤ 0.001). Godavari waters plot below Global and Local Meteoric Water Lines (p ≤ 0.01), highlighting the importance of evaporation. In the monsoon season, low δ18O and δD values in the downstream catchment reflect an amount/convective effect caused by Southwest monsoonal rainfall. Continuously enriched signatures in the Upper Godavari suggest year-round evaporation due to a rainfall deficit and abundant dams creating stagnant waters. The Godavari ultimately discharges an integrated, monsoon signal into the Bay of Bengal. River depth profiles reveal that Godavari waters are well-mixed in both seasons. In the pre-monsoon season, Godavari water isotopes suggest basin-wide evaporation and seawater intrusion in the delta. A data compilation (n = 399) of δ18O and δD values in Indian Rivers reveals a strong seasonality for the Godavari River. The spatio-temporal patterns in Godavari River water isotopes confirm their suitability as sensitive recorders of monsoon precipitation variability and hydrological processes within monsoon-fed rivers.",

keywords = "Evaporation, Godavari River, River connectivity, Spatio-temporal patterns, Water isotopes, Water provenance",

author = "Kirkels, {Fr{\'e}d{\'e}rique M.S.A.} and Zwart, {Huub M.} and Sayak Basu and Usman, {Muhammed O.} and Francien Peterse",

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AU - Basu, Sayak

AU - Usman, Muhammed O.

AU - Peterse, Francien

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