This grant supports acquisition of a laser cavity ring down spectrometer (CRDS) tuned to measure stable isotopic ratios of hydrogen and oxygen in natural waters. The instrument would replace an aging and no longer supported CRDS at Ohio State University and allow for continuation of a range of NSF-funded research and research training in hydrology, glaciology, and aquatic biogeochemistry that relies on determination of the sources and cycling pathways of waters in rivers, lakes, glacial melt, precipitation, and ice. Studies of the effects of changing climate on glacier-fed meltwater dependent regions, the hydrological cycle of agricultural regions of the American Midwest and the nature of fluid-rock-gas interactions that occur during hydraulic fracturing are timely and societally relevant. This support is congruent with NSFs mission of promoting the progress of science and advancing the national health, prosperity and welfare given the importance of faculty and student research focused on water resources, security and the effects of climate dynamics on regional and global water cycling.
CRDS allow for rapid and precise quantification of the isotope ratios of 18O/16O and 2H/1H as a proxy of water source regions given known Rayleigh fractionation patterns that vary as a function of latitude and elevation. Research applications will include but are not limited to; study of the water sources of Antarctic lakes and streams and subglacial waters and the sources of glacier fed melt waters in streams of South America and Asia that are being impacted by climate dynamics; studies of ground water-surface water interaction in Ohio in conjunction with elemental studies of water composition to study the changing geochemistry of urban streams in response to anthropogenic activity (e.g., road salt application and run off); and geochemical and isotopic studies of deep basinal brines.
