From Snow to Groundwater

Oliver Schilling (Université Laval and Centre for Hydrogeology and Geothermics) and his colleagues used a miniRUEDI for on-site quantification of dissolved He, Ar, Kr, N2, O2 and CO2 in groundwaters of a boreal catchment in Canada. The gas data allowed them to quantify the contribution of snowmelt to groundwater recharge, to analyze the temporal recharge dynamics, and to identify the primary recharge pathways. Furthermore, they observed a systematic depletion of N2 in groundwater, which provides insights into the biological N‐fixation in boreal forest soils.

Full paper: O. S. Schilling, A. Parajuli, C. Tremblay Otis, T. U. Müller, W. Antolinez Quijano, Y. Tremblay, M. S. Brennwald, D. F. Nadeau, S. Jutras, R. Kipfer, R. Therrien. Quantifying groundwater recharge dynamics and unsaturated zone processes in snow‐dominated catchments via on‐site dissolved gas analysis. Water Research, doi: 10.1029/2020WR028479