Testing and comparison of four ionic tracers to measure stream flow loss by multiple tracer injection
✍ Scribed by Gary W. Zellweger
- Book ID
- 102862728
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1994
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 761 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6087
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The ionic tracers lithium, sodium, chloride and bromide were used to measure flow loss in a small stream (= 10 1 s-I).
An injectate containing all four tracers was added continuously at five sites along a 507m study reach of St Kevin Gulch, Lake County, Colorado to determine which sections of the stream were losing water to the stream bed and to ascertain how well the four tracers performed. The acidity of the stream (pH 3.6) made it possible for lithium and sodium, which are normally adsorbed by ion exchange with stream bed sediment, to be used as conservative tracers. Net flow losses as low as 041s-', or 8% of flow, were calculated between measuring sites. By comparing the results of simultaneous injection it was determined whether subsections of the study reach were influent or emuent. Evaluation of tracer concentrations along 116m of stream indicated that all four tracers behaved conservatively. Discharges measured by Parshall flumes were 4-18% greater than discharges measured by tracer dilution.