• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.517-523
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• 2017

A linear relationship between two stable water isotopes, oxygen and hydrogen, has been used to understand the water cycle as a basic tool. A slope and intercept from the linear relationship indicates what kind of physical processes occur during movement of water. Traditionally, ordinary least squares (OLS) method has been utilized for the linear relationship, but total least squares (TLS) method provides more accurate slope and intercept theoretically because isotopic compositions of both oxygen and hydrogen have uncertainties. In this work, OLS and TLS were compared with isotopic compositions of snow and snowmelt collected from the King Sejong Station, Antarctica and isotopic compositions of water vapor observed by Lee et al. (2013) in the western part of Korea. The slopes from the linear relationship of isotopic compositions of snow and snowmelt at the King Sejong Station were estimated to be 7.00 (OLS) and 7.16(TLS) and the slopes of stable water vapor isotopes were 7.75(OLS) and 7.87(TLS). There was a melting process in the snow near the King Sejong Station and the water vapor was directly transported from the ocean to the study area based on the slope calculations. There is no significant difference in two slopes to interpret the physical processes. However, it is necessary to evaluate the slope differences from the two methods for studies for example, groundwater recharge processes, using the absolute slope values.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.357-362
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• 2000

Stable isotope ratios of oxygen and hydrogen were investigated in southern Yellow Sea in August 1997. Salinity showed good positive correlation with ${\delta}^{18}$O and ${\delta}$. The correlation between ${\delta}^{18}$O and ${\delta}$D is good. From the relationship between these parameters, we obtained two lines of conclusion: 1) seawater of study area I in summer is a mixture of Changjiang Water and modified Kuroshio Water; 2) stable isotopes are very useful tracers in studying property and behavior of water masses in the study area. In case when water masses can not be easily distinguished by T-S analysis, the stable isotopes seem to be powerful tools for this purpose.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.339-345
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• 2016

Stable water vapor isotopes have been utilized as a tracer for studying atmospheric global circulations, climate change and paleoclimate with ice cores. Recently, since laser spectroscopy has been available, water vapor isotopes can be measured more precisely and continuously. Studies of water vapor isotopes have been conducted over the world, but it is the early stage in south Korea. For vapor isotopes study, a cryogenic sampling device for water vapor isotopes has been developed. The cryogenic sampling device consists of the dewar bottle, filled with extremely low temperature material and impinger connected with a vacuum pump. Impinger stays put in the dewar bottle to change the water vapor which passes through the inside of impinger into the solid phase as ice. The fact that water vapor has not sampled completely leads to isotopic fractionation in the impinger. To minimize the isotopic fractionation during sampling water vapor, we have tested the method using a serial connection with two sets of impinger device in the laboratory. We trapped 98.02% of water vapor in the first trap and the isotopic difference of the trapped water vapor between two impinger were about 20‰ and 6‰ for hydrogen and oxygen, respectively. Considering the amount of water vapor trapped in each impinger, the isotopic differences for hydrogen and oxygen were 0.33‰ and 0.06‰, respectively, which is significantly smaller than the precision of isotopic measurements. This work can conclude that there is no significant fractionation during water vapor trapping.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.285-294
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• 2002

The origin of nitrate in confined groundwater was studied using oxygen ($\delta$180), hydrogen ($\delta$D), and nitrogen ($\delta$15N) stable isotopes, along with chemical data of NO3-N. We analyzed groundwaters from more than sixty manufactories producing natural mineral waters around the country During the period of 1998-2001, an average value of nitrate was fair]y low (0.95 mg/$\ell$), however, groundwaters from six sites showed more than 2 mg/$\ell$ of nitrate. The stable isotope data of the groundwaters are -8.3~-11 $\textperthousand$ $\delta$8O, -60~-75 $\textperthousand$ $\delta$D, which lies in an average range of the groundwaters. The nitrogen isotope data with -11.8~-5.1$\textperthousand$ $\delta$15N suggest that manure, organic nitrate, and fertilizers can not be the origin of nitrate in the goundwaters.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.329-338
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to identify the temporal and spatial variation of stable isotopic compositions of surface waters and shallow ground waters at a local watershed(100$Km^2$) near the Muju area. For oxygen and hydrogen isotope analysis, water samples were collected from 19-22 sites during August, October 2001, through April 2002. Seasonal variation in the isotopic compositions of surface waters was clearly shown. However, the degree of such isotopic variation was highly attenuated in shallow ground waters because of mixing with preexisting ground waters. Isotope values of surface waters and ground waters were very similar in each season, indicating that precipitation/ground water/surface water interactions were very active and continuous in the watershed. Stable isotopic ratios of surface waters in the study area were lighter than those of the downstream reach of Geum River on south, indicating “latitude effect”. Both “altitude effect” and “amount effect” were also shown in the stable isotopic ratios of surface waters in the study area as well as seasonal variation of stable isotopes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.254-257
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• 2002

The purposes of this research are to identify the source and to analyze the pathway of nitrate contamination in "cultural village", Jeungpyeong. In order to examine recharge processes and flow pattern that closely related to the influent of nitrate contaminant, the flow field was simulated and the oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopes were analyzed. The nitrogen isotope was used to delineate contaminant sources. The shallow groundwater was mainly composed of precipitation, but leakage of domestic water and sewage contributed to the recharge. Nitrate contaminants were possibly from the leakage of sewage and animal waste. The nitrate concentration decreased due to dilution by low concentration water.ion water.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.34-40
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• 2015

It is reported that the intensity of rainfall will likely increase, on average, over the world on 2000. For water resources security, many studies for flow paths from rainfall or snowmelt to subsurface have been conducted. In Korea, few isotopic studies for characterizations of flow path have been undertaken. For a better understanding of how water derived from atmosphere moves to subsurface and from subsurface to stream, an analysis of precipitation and stream water using oxygen-18 and deuterium isotopes in a small watershed, Dorim-cheon, Seoul, was conducted with high resolution data. Variations of oxygen-18 in precipitation greater than 10‰ (δ¹⁸O_max = −1.21‰, δ¹⁸O_min = −11.23) were observed. Isotopic compositions of old water (groundwater) assumed as the stream water collected in advance were −8.98‰ and −61.85‰ for oxygen and hydrogen, respectively. Using a two-component mixing model, hydrograph separation of the stream water in Dorim-cheon was conducted based on weighted mean value of δ¹⁸O. As a result, except of instant dominance of rainfall, contribution of old water was dominant during the study period. On average, 71.3% of the old water and 28.7% of rainfall contributed to the stream water. The results show that even in the small watershed, which is covered with thin soil layer in granite mountain region, the stream water is considerably influenced by old water inflow rather than rainfall.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.327-332
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• 2015

Isotopic compositions of ice and meltwater play a very crucial role in paleoclimate studies based on ice cores and water resources research conducted in alpine hydrogeology. Better understanding of variations in the stable isotopic compositions of water is required since changes from ice to liquid water are gaining more attention due to recent climate change. In this work, a melting experiment was designed and conducted to investigate how the isotopic compositions of ice vary with time by heat sources, such as solar radiation. We conducted the melting experiment for 22 hours. The discharge rate rose to a maximum value after 258 minutes and gradually declined because we fixed the heat source. The isotopic compositions of meltwater increased linearly or to a second degree polynomial. The linear relationship between oxygen and hydrogen has a slope of 6.8, which is less than that of the Global Meteoric Water Line (8) and higher than a theoretical value (6.3). The deuterium excess decreased when ${\delta}D$ or ${\delta}^{18}O$ increases or vise versa since the slope of the relationship for ice-liquid exchange is less than 8. These findings and the apparatus of the melting experiments will make a helpful contribution to the studies of stable isotopes and the melting process in temperate and polar regions.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.355-363
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• 2023

In this study, we explore the nature of clumped isotopes of H₂O molecule using quantum chemical calculations. Particularly, we estimated the relative clumping strength between diverse isotopologues, consisting of oxygen (¹⁶O, ¹⁷O, and ¹⁸O) and hydrogen (hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium) isotopes and quantify the effect of temperature on the extent of isotope clumping. The optimized equilibrium bond lengths and the bond angles of the molecules are 0.9631-0.9633 Å and 104.59-104.62°, respectively, and show a negligible variation among the isotopologues. The calculated frequencies of the modes of H₂O molecules decrease as isotope mass number increases, and show a more prominent change with varying hydrogen isotopes over those with oxygen isotopes. The equilibrium constants of isotope substitution reactions involving these isotopologues reveal a greater effect of hydrogen mass number than oxygen mass number. The calculated equilibrium constants of clumping reaction for four heavy isotopologues showed a strong correlation; particularly, the relative clumping strength of three isotopologues was 1.86 times (HT¹⁸O), 1.16 times (HT¹⁷O), and 0.703 times (HD¹⁷O) relative to HD¹⁸O, respectively. The relative clumping strength decreases with increasing temperature, and therefore, has potential for a novel paleo-temperature proxy. The current calculation results highlight the first theoretical study to establish the nature of clumped isotope fractions in H₂O including ¹⁷O and tritium. The current results help to account for diverse geochemical processes in earth's surface environments. Future efforts include the calculations of isotope fractionations among various phases of H₂O isotopologues with a full consideration of the effect of anharmonicity in molecular vibration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2021

Isotopic compositions of snow or ice have been used to reconstruct paleoclimate and to calculate contribution to streamwater using isotopic hydrograph separation as an end member. During freezing and melting of snow or ice, isotopic fractionation occurs between snow or ice and liquid water. Isotopic evolution during melting process has been studied by field, melting experiments and modeling works, but that during freezing has not been well studied. In this review, isotopic fractionation during equilibrium freezing is discussed using the linear relationship between two stable water isotopes (oxygen and hydrogen) and the Rayleigh fractionation. Snow, evaporated from nearby ocean and condensated, follows the Global Meteoric Water Line (slope of 8), but the melting and freezing of snow affect the linear relationship (slope of 19.5/3.1~6.3). The isotopic evolution of liquid water by freezing observed in the open system during Rayleigh fractionation is also seen in the closed system. The isotopic evolution of snow or ice in the open system where the snow or ice is continuously removed becomes more enriched than the residual liquid water by the fractionation factor. The isotopic evolution of snow or ice in the closed system eventually equals the original isotopic compositions of liquid water. It is expected the understanding of isotopic evolution of snow or ice by freezing to increase the accuracy of the paleoclimate studies and hydrograph separation.