Stable isotope tracing of headwater sources in a river on China's Loess Plateau

Distinguishing headwater components can provide fundamental information for water resources management; however, this is difficult with the hydrometric method for regions with a thick unsaturated zone. We sampled headwaters, precipitation and groundwater in a river on China's Loess Plateau to determine the isotopic composition, and identified headwater components by an isotope mass balance method. The isotopic composition of precipitation varies greatly, whereas that of groundwater is almost constant, which validates the applicability of the isotope mass balance method. During the dry season, the contributions of precipitation and groundwater to headwaters are both 50% for the upper reach, while they are 20 and 80%, respectively, for the lower reach; however, during the wet season, the contributions are, respectively, 67 and 33% for the upper reach, and 43 and 57% for the lower reach. The headwaters respond quickly to rainfall but are dominated by groundwater. Groundwater protection should be of high priority to sustain the catchment-scale hydrological cycle.