Articles | Volume 28, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4295-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4295-2024
Research article
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20 Sep 2024
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 20 Sep 2024

Young and new water fractions in soil and hillslope waters

Marius G. Floriancic, Scott T. Allen, and James W. Kirchner

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The paper includes a very rare 3 year data collection of stable water isotopes in surface and subsurface waters. The innovative analysis challenge general conceptualizations of new precipitation inputs wetting dry soils or displacing previously stored waters from those soils. These observations illustrate how measurements of isotopic variability across different subsurface depths, hillslope positions, and time scales can help to constrain potential flow processes delivering precipitation to deep soils and streams.
Short summary
We use a 3-year time series of tracer data of streamflow and soils to show how water moves through the subsurface to become streamflow. Less than 50% of soil water consists of rainfall from the last 3 weeks. Most annual streamflow is older than 3 months, and waters in deep subsurface layers are even older; thus deep layers are not the only source of streamflow. After wet periods more rainfall was found in the subsurface and the stream, suggesting that water moves quicker through wet landscapes.