Abstract
High mountain areas provide water resources for a large share of the world’s population. The ongoing deglaciation of these areas is resulting in great instability of mountainous headwater regions, which could significantly affect water supply and intensify dangerous hydrological processes.
The hydrological processes in mountains are still poorly understood due to the complexity of the natural conditions, great spatial variation and a lack of observation. A knowledge of flow-forming processes in alpine areas is essential to predict future possible trends in hydrological conditions and to calculate river runoff characteristics. The goal of this study is to gain detailed field data on various components of natural hydrological processes in the alpine areas of the North Caucasus and Central Tien Shan, and to investigate the possibility that the isotopic method can reveal important regularities of river flow formation in these regions. The study is based on field observations in representative alpine river basins in the North Caucasus (the Dzhankuat river basin) and the Central Tien Shan (the Chon-Kyzyl-Suu river basin) during 2013–2015. A mixing-model approach was used to conduct river hydrograph separation. Isotope methods were used to estimate the contribution of different nourishment sources in total runoff and its regime. d18О, dD and mineralization were used as indicators. Two equation systems for the study sites were derived: in terms of water routing and runoff genesis. The Dzhankuat and Chon-Kyzyl-Suu river hydrographs were separated into 4 components: liquid precipitation/meltwaters, surface routed/subsurface routed waters.
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18 August 2017
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The spelling of the Yu.K. VASILCHUK’s name was incorrect. The correct name is given below.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 16-35-60042 – methodology of the study, equipment and calculations, project No. 15-05-00599a – field observations, equipment), Russian Science Foundation (project No. 14-17-00155 – hydrochemical analysis and sensitivity tests).
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Also named Tianshan.
Ekaterina Rets is a Research Scientist at the Water Problems Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PhD in Geography. Her research interests are mountain hydrology, hydrological modeling in alpine regions, water resources under the impact of climate change, and isotopic methods in mountain hydrology. She does a lot of field study in different mountainous regions. Hydrological observations in Dzhankuat glaciological station have been carried out under her supervision (in collaboration with Maria Kreeva) for the last ten years (2007–2016). She is an author of AMelt hydrological model. She has published 15 peer-reviewed articles, is co-author of 3 books, including the Atlas “Modern resources of underground and surface waters of the European part of Russia: formation, distribution, use”. She is a member of FRIEND Low Flow and Drought Group.
Julia N. Chizhova is a Senior researcher at the Department of Landscape Geochemistry and Soil Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University. She obtained her PhD from Moscow State University in 2006, under the supervision of Professor Vasil’chuk. In 2007 she joined the staff of Moscow State University and begun working in the mass-spectrometry laboratory. Her research interests are concerned with the use of stable isotopes in precipitation, snow, glacier ice and ice wedge. She is the author of the research monograph and text book “Stable isotope geochemistry of atmosphere and hydrosphere” published in 2013 in the series “Isotope Ratios in the Environment”. She has published 50 peer-reviewed articles.
Nadezhda Loshakova is a M.Sc. in Geography, Moscow State University (2016). She is a Magister student in the Faculty of Geography, Department of Land Hydrology (Lomonosov Moscow State University) since 2015. Her scientific interests are mountain hydrology, and isotopic methods in mountain hydrology. She took part in field observations on Dzhankuat glaciological station in 2014–2015. She has published 4 peer-reviewed articles.
Maria B. Kireeva is a Junior Research Scientist in the Faculty of Geography, Department of Land Hydrology (Lomonosov Moscow State University) since 2012. She graduated from Moscow State University in 2009 and finished her PhD in 2013. Her research interests are connected with water regime transformation under the impact of climate change. During the last 10 years, along with colleagues, she has maintained hydrological observations at Dzhankuat glaciological station (MSU). She is a co-author of Atlas “Modern resources of underground and surface waters of the European part of Russia: formation, distribution, use”. She has published 37 peer-reviewed articles and participated in 30 conferences. She is a member of FRIEND Low Flow and Drought Group.
Nadine A. Budantseva is a Senior Research Scientist of the Department of Landscape Geochemistry and Soil Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University since 2007. She graduated from Moscow State University in 1999 and obtained her PhD in 2003, under the supervision of Professor Vasil’chuk. Her research interests are concerned with the use of stable isotopes in ice wedge, pingo, lithalsa and massive ice. Her work discusses problems of water supply, isotope fractionation during ground ice formation, as well as radiocarbon age. She is the author of the research monograph and text book “Stable isotope geochemistry of atmosphere and hydrosphere”, 2013. She has published 50 peer-reviewed articles.
IgorTokarev is an associate director at the Center for Geo- Environmental Research and Modeling (GEOMODEL) at St. Petersburg University, PhD in Geology. His interests include experimental methods in Environmental sciences.
Yurij K. Vasil’chuk is Professor of Permafrost Science at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Department of Landscape Geochemistry and Soil Geography. He obtained his PhD from Moscow State University in 1982, and his Doctor of Science degree from the Permafrost Institute of RAS in 1991. He has held professorial positions at the Cryolithology and Glaciology Department of Moscow State University in 1996, and was appointed to the position of full professor at the Department of Landscape Geochemistry and Soil Geography in 2009. In 2004 he was elected as a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. He is a geographer and geologist in the field of permafrost environments and mountain glaciation. His research focuses on isotope geochemistry, massive ice and ice wedge, palsa and pingo, snow and glaciers. He has published 152 peer-reviewed articles, 4 university textbooks and 15 geocryological monographs.
Natalia Frolova has a PhD in Geography, Moscow State University, 1984. “Geographical regularities of annual runoff space-time variability of the rivers of the Volga basin”. She is also a Doctor of Science in Geography, Moscow State University, 2012. “Hydroecological safety of water use”. Her current position is Head of Department of Land Hydrology, Professor, Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University. She was employed in the Faculty of Geography after graduating from Moscow University. She is an author of more than 300 publications, mainly in the sphere of dangerous hydrological processes, water resources, and mountain hydrology. Professor Frolova is a member of the Russian Geographical Society and International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS). She is a national correspondent for Russia in the International Geographical Union.
Viktor Popovnin is PhD in Geography, Moscow State University, 1989. Mass balance studies and evolution of alpine glaciers. His current position is Assistant Professor of the Cryolithology & Glaciology Dept., Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University. He was employed in Faculty of Geography after graduating from Moscow University as (in consecutive order) younger researcher and senior researcher. He is an author of more than 160 publications, mainly in the sphere of evolutionary glaciology and external mass/ energy turnover of alpine glaciers. Dr. Popovnin is a member of the Russian Geographical Society and (formerly) of the International Glaciological Society. He is a national correspondent for Russia in the World Glacier Monitoring Service. He was elected as an official expert in mass balance and terminology for WGMS.
Pavel Toropov is an assistant professor at the Department of Meteorology and Climatology of the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University. He obtained his PhD from Moscow State University in 2007, under the supervision of Professor Alexander Kislov. Topic of PhD «Temperature-humidity regime of Eastern European Russia in contrasting climatic conditions». Currently, him research interests are concerned with the mesoscale processes in the atmosphere, mountain meteorology, glacio-climatology, parametrization of glaciers in numerical climate models. He has published 40 peer-reviewed articles.
Elena Terskaya is a research associate in Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) Faculty of Geography (2010–current), wordprocessor in Maik Nauka/Interpereodika Publishers, Moscow, MSU Moscow State University Faculty of Chemistry (2006–2009); Educational background: MSU Faculty of Geography, Moscow, Russia, 1987. Speciality: "Soil science and agro chemistry". Field of study: geochemistry, elements migration, hydrochemistry.
Andrew M. Smirnov has a M.Sc. in Glaciology from Lomonosov Moscow State University (2015). He is a PhD candidate in Moscow State University. He has worked on Dzhankuat glaciological station for 5 years, mostly on mass-balance measurements, but also making related hydrological and meteorological research.
Egor Belozerov is a B.Sc. in Geography, Moscow State University (2016). His areas of study are mountain hydrology, and climate change-driven changes in alpine areas. He took part in field works in Central Tien Shan in 2015–2016.
Maria Karashova is a B.Sc. in Geography, Moscow State University (2016), Faculty of Geography, Department of Land Hydrology since 2013. She studies Arctic rivers runoff change under the impact of climate change. She took part in field works in Central Tien Shan in 2015–2016.
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Rets, E., Chizhova, J.N., Loshakova, N. et al. Using isotope methods to study alpine headwater regions in the Northern Caucasus and Tien Shan. Front. Earth Sci. 11, 531–543 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0668-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0668-6