The extent to which soil hydraulics can explain ecohydrological separation.

ABSTRACT: Field measurements of hydrologic tracers indicate varying magnitudes of geochemical separation between subsurface pore waters. The potential for conventional soil physics alone to explain isotopic differences between preferential flow and tightly-bound water remains unclear. Here, we explore physical drivers of isotopic separations using 650 different model configurations of soil, climate, and mobile/immobile soil-water domain characteristics, without confounding fractionation or plant uptake effects. We find simulations with coarser soils and less precipitation led to reduced separation between pore spaces and drainage. Amplified separations are found with larger immobile domains and, to a lesser extent, higher mobile-immobile transfer rates. Nonetheless, isotopic separations remained sma

SUBMITTER: Finkenbiner CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9618555 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature