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Seasonality and the isotope hydrology of Lochnagar, a Scottish mountain lake: implications for palaeoclimate research

Environmental Change Research Centre, Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK, NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK, j.tyler{at}ucl.ac.uk

Melanie J. Leng

NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

Carol Arrowsmith

NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5GG, UK

The relationship between isotope ratios in precipitation and lake waters was monitored by bi-weekly measurements taken over a five and a half year period between May 2000 and September 2005 (a period of 1964 days) at Lochnagar, a remote mountain lake in eastern Scotland. Short-term changes in the oxygen isotope composition of lake water (¹⁸O_L) at Lochnagar follow a seasonal pattern similar to isotopes in local precipitation (¹⁸O_P), however changes in catchment residence time, snow accumulation, lake ice cover and lake stratification modify the temporal structure of ¹⁸O_L over the seasonal cycle. Of particular importance is precipitation amount, which controls catchment and lake residence times, and determines the degree of phase lag and amplitude change between ¹⁸O_L and ¹⁸O_P. A simple mass balance model replicates these effects and demonstrates that the degree of phase lag and amplitude reduction is predictable given known input/volume ratio. The implications of these observations for the use of ¹⁸O records in palaeoclimatology are important, since it is rare that authigenic and biogenic minerals or organic compounds (from which ¹⁸O and/or ²H can be measured) are produced in a lake evenly throughout the year.

Key Words: Oxygen isotopes • lakes • hydrology • palaeoclimate • Lochnagar • seasonality • Scotland.

The Holocene, Vol. 17, No. 6, 717-727 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0959683607080513


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