Stable isotope deuterium as a natural tracer of mixing processes in rivers

The possibility of application of naturally existing differences in isotope contents 18O/16O, 2H/1H in waters for investigation of transport and mixing of various waters in the tributary-river system is presented. Experiments carried out on the Bug-Narew rivers-Zegrze Lake and the BugoNarew-Vistula rivers systems have indicated that the hydrogen isotope ratio 2H/1H can be used as an intrinsic tracer of natural mixing processes occurring in rivers. The IRMS methodology was used for isotope ratio measurement of water samples. The degrees of water mixing as a function of distance from the confluence point of rivers were determined. The obtained results indicate that in water systems where the natural differences in δ2H are higher than 0.005 this technique can replace the time-consuming and expensive dye (or radiotracer) dispersion tests for evaluation of pollutant transport in rivers. (authors)