Articles | Volume 19, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3771-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3771-2015
Research article
 | 
08 Sep 2015
Research article |  | 08 Sep 2015

Transit times from rainfall to baseflow in headwater catchments estimated using tritium: the Ovens River, Australia

I. Cartwright and U. Morgenstern

Related authors

Investigating Relationships Between Nitrogen Inputs and In-Stream Nitrogen Concentrations and Exports Across Catchments in Victoria, Australia
Olaleye Babatunde, Meenakshi Arora, Siva Naga Venkat Nara, Danlu Guo, Ian Cartwright, and Andrew W. Western
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2456,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2456, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Biogeosciences (BG).
Short summary
A high-resolution map of diffuse groundwater recharge rates for Australia
Stephen Lee, Dylan J. Irvine, Clément Duvert, Gabriel C. Rau, and Ian Cartwright
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1771–1790, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1771-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1771-2024, 2024
Short summary
Explaining changes in rainfall–runoff relationships during and after Australia's Millennium Drought: a community perspective
Keirnan Fowler, Murray Peel, Margarita Saft, Tim J. Peterson, Andrew Western, Lawrence Band, Cuan Petheram, Sandra Dharmadi, Kim Seong Tan, Lu Zhang, Patrick Lane, Anthony Kiem, Lucy Marshall, Anne Griebel, Belinda E. Medlyn, Dongryeol Ryu, Giancarlo Bonotto, Conrad Wasko, Anna Ukkola, Clare Stephens, Andrew Frost, Hansini Gardiya Weligamage, Patricia Saco, Hongxing Zheng, Francis Chiew, Edoardo Daly, Glen Walker, R. Willem Vervoort, Justin Hughes, Luca Trotter, Brad Neal, Ian Cartwright, and Rory Nathan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 6073–6120, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6073-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-6073-2022, 2022
Short summary
Sources and mean transit times of stream water in an intermittent river system: the upper Wimmera River, southeast Australia
Zibo Zhou, Ian Cartwright, and Uwe Morgenstern
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4497–4513, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4497-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4497-2022, 2022
Short summary
Implications of variations in stream specific conductivity for estimating baseflow using chemical mass balance and calibrated hydrograph techniques
Ian Cartwright
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 183–195, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-183-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-183-2022, 2022
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Catchment hydrology | Techniques and Approaches: Instruments and observation techniques
Technical note: High-frequency, multi-elemental stream water monitoring – experiences, feedbacks and suggestions from 7 years of running three French field laboratories (Riverlabs)
Nicolai Brekenfeld, Solenn Cotel, Mikael Faucheux, Colin Fourtet, Yannick Hamon, Patrice Petitjean, Arnaud Blanchouin, Celine Bouillis, Marie-Claire Pierret, Hocine Henine, Anne-Catherine Pierson-Wickmann, Sophie Guillon, Paul Floury, and Ophelie Fovet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2615–2631, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2615-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2615-2025, 2025
Short summary
Hydrological controls on temporal contributions of three nested forested subcatchments to the export of dissolved organic carbon
Katharina Blaurock, Burkhard Beudert, and Luisa Hopp
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2377–2391, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2377-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2377-2025, 2025
Short summary
Changes in the flowing drainage network and stream chemistry during rainfall events for two pre-Alpine catchments
Izabela Bujak-Ozga, Jana von Freyberg, Margaret Zimmer, Andrea Rinaldo, Paolo Benettin, and Ilja van Meerveld
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 2339–2359, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2339-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-2339-2025, 2025
Short summary
Constructing a geography of heavy-tailed flood distributions: insights from common streamflow dynamics
Hsing-Jui Wang, Ralf Merz, and Stefano Basso
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 1525–1548, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1525-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1525-2025, 2025
Short summary
Spatial Variations in Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions at the Basin Scale of an Arid Region: Insights from Stable Isotopes and Hydrochemistry
Liheng Wang, Yuejia Sun, Chun Yang, and Yanhui Dong
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-552,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-552, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Allison, G. B., Cook, P. G., Barnett, S. R., Walker, G. R., Jolly, I. D., and Hughes, M. W.: Land clearance and river salinisation in the western Murray Basin, Australia, J. Hydrol., 119, 1–20, 1990.
Blackburn, G. and McLeod, S.: Salinity of atmospheric precipitation in the Murray Darling Drainage Division, Australia, Austr. J. Soil Res., 21, 400–434, 1983
Bullen, T. D., Krabbenhoft, D. P., and Kendall, C.: Kinetic and mineralogic controls on the evolution of groundwater chemistry and 87Sr/86Sr in a sandy silicate aquifer, northern Wisconsin, USA, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 60, 1807–1821, 1996.
Bureau of Meteorology: Commonwealth of Australia Bureau of Meteorology, available at: http://www.bom.gov.au, last access: March 2015.
Cartwright, I. and Morgenstern, U.: Constraining groundwater recharge and the rate of geochemical processes using tritium and major ion geochemistry: Ovens catchment, southeast Australia, J. Hydrol., 475, 137–149, 2012.
Download
Short summary
This study documents the age of water that contributes to rivers in upper catchments using the radioactive tracer tritium. River water in the upper Ovens Valley (Australia) is several years to decades old and water from different parts of the catchment (e.g., soil, regolith, and groundwater) is mobilised at different flow conditions. The results indicate that these rivers are buffered against short term climate variability but are susceptible to longer-term climate and land use changes
Share