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Full-Text Articles in Earth Sciences
Stable Isotopes As A Tool To Characterize Carbon Cycling And Develop Hydrologic Budgets In Mantled Karst Settings, Katherine Knierim
Stable Isotopes As A Tool To Characterize Carbon Cycling And Develop Hydrologic Budgets In Mantled Karst Settings, Katherine Knierim
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Isotopes of water (δ2H/δ18O), carbon dioxide (δ13C-CO2), and dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13C-DIC) were used to explore water quality, trace carbon cycling, and quantify recharge sources through mantled karst and into Blowing Spring Cave (BSC). Of the possible sources of contamination in the BSC recharge area, septic-tank effluent was hypothesized to degrade water quality at the spring outlet of BSC because of the dominance of septic tanks for waste treatment, unsuitable topography and soil for septic-tank absorption fields, increased nitrate and chloride concentrations concomitant with increased urbanization, and increased Escherichia coli with discharge. Carbon cycling between the soil and BSC was …