Stable Isotope Composition of Rainfall, Surface Water and Groundwater along the Yellow River

The intention of this work is to consider the stable isotopic compositions of oxygen and deuterium in rainfall, surface water and groundwater along the Yellow River in the North China Plain (NCP). This demonstrated that the delta O-18 values in groundwater varied from -10.17 to -6.85 parts per thousand, with mean value of -8.76 parts per thousand, and that the delta D ranged from -68.7 to -58.0 parts per thousand, with mean value of -63.4 parts per thousand, respectively. The delta O-18 values in surface water varied from -8.36 to 1.32 parts per thousand, with mean value of -6.8 parts per thousand, and delta D ranged from -64.4 to -35.1 parts per thousand, with mean value of -57.6 parts per thousand, respectively. Further, The range of Cl- values of groundwater varied from 5.9 to 340.5 mg/L and that values ranged from 30.1 to 81.9 mg/L in surface water samples and Na+ value changed from 27.4 to 321 mg/L in groundwater, while that in surface water varied from 24.8 to 50.5 mg/L. Most of the points fall below the GMWL, but are close to the LMWL. Therefore the results indicated that the groundwaters along the Yellow River were influenced by rainfall in heavy events and surface water.