A hydrological tracer experiment with LiCl in a high mountain lake

✍ Scribed by Hansjörg Thies; Ulrike Nickus; Christoph Arnold; Roland Psenner

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 116 KB
• Volume: 16
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6087
• DOI: 10.1002/hyp.1004

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The water residence time of the high mountain seepage lake Gossenköllesee (2413 m, Tyrol, Austria) was determined by measuring the flushing rate of a tracer substance. During holomixis in July 1997, when circulation occurred throughout the entire water column, a dilute lithium chloride solution was injected into the lake causing the lithium concentration to rise from the background value of 0·06 to 3·1 μg L^−1^. The water residence time was derived from the exponential decline of the lithium mass in the lake between July and October holomixis. The water residence time was about 2 months, i.e. the lake volume was exchanged twice between the two periods of holomictic conditions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.