Abstract:
The studies of evaporative isotopic fractionation
in controlled conditions are of particular importance
for understanding the mechanism of evaporation fractionation
in natural conditions. We present the measurements
of the average isotopic fractionation factors during the
evaporation of water having different initial isotopic
compositions at constant temperature. The results show
that the isotopic composition of residual water become
more enriched over the time and the initial isotopic composition
of evaporating water has considerable effect on the
average isotopic fractionation factors. The average isotopic
fractionation factors in evaporation of Water A and Water
B under the present experimental conditions were found to
be 0.9817 ± 0.0044 and 0.9887 ± 0.0031 for oxygen and
0.9178 ± 0.0182 and 0.9437 ± 0.0169 for hydrogen,
respectively. The findings of this work should lead to a
better understanding and use of stable isotope techniques in
isotope hydrology by using a simple technique of evaporation
pan.
