Atlas of Isotope Hydrology - The Americas

Naturally occurring isotopes in water provide unique hydrological information. Isotope hydrology tools are now applied routinely in water resource investigations and are highly cost effective. The application of isotopes in hydrology takes place under the auspices of peaceful applications of nuclear and isotope methods within the IAEA, with the goal of developing appropriate methods for their use in water resources management and to assist IAEA Member States in using these methods. This atlas focuses on projects in American IAEA Member States in which environmental isotopes were used to assess water resources in terms of quantity or quality. It presents location maps of study areas, summary statistics and relevant isotope plots. For each project, a higher resolution map of the study area is provided, together with summary data tables and plots for median and mean values of d18O and d2H in different water bodies, average annual precipitation, air temperature, and tritium and radiocarbon contents in groundwaters.