Investigating the Persistence of a Snowpack Sublimation Stable Isotope Signal in Tree Xylem Water during the Growing Season

Previous work identified a riparian meadow in the Rocky Mountains where streamside box elder (Acer negundo) trees did not use stream water, the most reliable and readily available source. A follow-up study showed that the water used by trees appears to be more evaporatively enriched than all available measured sources, including stream water, precipitation-derived soil water, and groundwater. While it is unlikely that there is a missing pool of water these trees are accessing, they may be tapping into a distinct subset of the bulk soil water available, possibly derived from much colder and older snowmelt. In this study, we investigated whether snowpack sublimation and subsequent melt water may impart an enriched isotopic signature that persists throughout the following growing season in less-mobile soil water pools. Profile samples of the snowpack, bulk melt water, and early season soil lysimeter water were collected throughout the winter and analyzed for hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopes. As snow began to melt in the spring, water samples for isotope analysis were taken from soil profiles, stream water, groundwater, and stems. Although sublimation likely occurred at the site, such processes did not impart an evaporative isotope enrichment on the snowpack throughout the season. Both snow pack and melt water remained closely tied to the local meteoric water line as they infiltrated soil. These findings suggest that snowpack sublimation processes preceding melt water infiltration are not the source of evaporative enrichment in tree water at our site.