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Isotope Content And Temperature Of Precipitation In Southern Nevada, August 1983-August 1986, W. K. Milne, Larry Benson, P. W. Mckinley

Publications of the US Geological Survey

From August 1983 through August 1986, 429 precipitation samples of 112 precipitation events were collected at 12 stations in southern Nevada. Some of these samples were analyzed for oxygen-18, deuterium, and tritium. The results of these analyses as well as the air temperature and the precipitation measured at the collection sites are tabulated in this report. The sampling program provides a data base for future interpretive studies on the timing and origin of ground-water recharge in the Yucca Mountain region, of southern Nevada.

The stable-isotope composition of precipitation is the result of fractionation processes that occur in the atmosphere. Isotopic …