Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area

This thesis investigates the potential for using the stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen from surface water and shallow aquifer water in solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town metropolitan region. Three different water groups were chosen for detailed analysis, namely groundwater,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Oom, Bruce Michael
Other Authors: Harris, Chris
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Geological Sciences 2016
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867611290551189504
access_status_str Open Access
author Oom, Bruce Michael
author2 Harris, Chris
author_browse Harris, Chris
Oom, Bruce Michael
author_facet Harris, Chris
Oom, Bruce Michael
author_sort Oom, Bruce Michael
collection Thesis
description This thesis investigates the potential for using the stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen from surface water and shallow aquifer water in solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town metropolitan region. Three different water groups were chosen for detailed analysis, namely groundwater, springwater and reservoir water destined to join the mains water supply system. The stable isotope composition of groundwater and springwater were assumed to be fairly constant throughout the year, and were thus sampled only once. The reservoir waters were subject to evaporation effects, which result in isotope fractionation. The reservoir waters were sampled at the end of summer (9th April 1996), and near the end of winter (14th August 1996), in order to identify any seasonal isotope variations in the reservoir water isotope values. Reservoir water was sampled before and after the mains water treatment process, to identify any effect water treatment had on the isotope composition of the water. The two effects of water treatment and seasonal variation were determined simultaneously. Chemical analyses (pH, electrical conductivity, alkalinity, major anions and cations) of many of the water samples were performed to investigate the potential for correlating isotope values with chemical concentrations, and for using chemical analyses to complement or supplement isotope studies.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19681
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Geological Sciences
publisherStr Department of Geological Sciences
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/19681 The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area Oom, Bruce Michael Harris, Chris Geological Sciences This thesis investigates the potential for using the stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen from surface water and shallow aquifer water in solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town metropolitan region. Three different water groups were chosen for detailed analysis, namely groundwater, springwater and reservoir water destined to join the mains water supply system. The stable isotope composition of groundwater and springwater were assumed to be fairly constant throughout the year, and were thus sampled only once. The reservoir waters were subject to evaporation effects, which result in isotope fractionation. The reservoir waters were sampled at the end of summer (9th April 1996), and near the end of winter (14th August 1996), in order to identify any seasonal isotope variations in the reservoir water isotope values. Reservoir water was sampled before and after the mains water treatment process, to identify any effect water treatment had on the isotope composition of the water. The two effects of water treatment and seasonal variation were determined simultaneously. Chemical analyses (pH, electrical conductivity, alkalinity, major anions and cations) of many of the water samples were performed to investigate the potential for correlating isotope values with chemical concentrations, and for using chemical analyses to complement or supplement isotope studies. 2016-05-16T11:55:13Z 2016-05-16T11:55:13Z 1997 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19681 eng application/pdf Department of Geological Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Geological Sciences
Oom, Bruce Michael
The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
title_full The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
title_fullStr The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
title_full_unstemmed The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
title_short The potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the Cape Town area
title_sort potential for using stable isotopes for solving urban geohydrological problems in the cape town area
topic Geological Sciences
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19681
work_keys_str_mv AT oombrucemichael thepotentialforusingstableisotopesforsolvingurbangeohydrologicalproblemsinthecapetownarea
AT oombrucemichael potentialforusingstableisotopesforsolvingurbangeohydrologicalproblemsinthecapetownarea