A review of research dealing with isotope hydrology in Iran and the first Iranian meteoric water line

Abstract

For more than half a century isotopes have been employed as a powerful tool in studying various aspects of water resources in a large<br />number of countries. However, in developing countries like Iran the application of such techniques is in its infancy. The first research in<br />Iran was carried out in 1975 to identify the source of saline groundwaters in south Iran, and the first national conference on the application<br />of stable isotopes was held in 2013. Altogether, there are 70 publications which fall into seven categories, including the isotopic<br />composition of precipitation/groundwater (35.75%), sources of salinization and hydrothermal water (18.57%), natural recharge and<br />recharge areas of springs (17.14%), informative studies and groundwater modelling (11.42%), groundwater–surface water interaction<br />(7.14%), karst development and hydrograph separation (5.71%), and pollution and pollutant transportation (4.28%). Nationwide, there are<br />issues which require the application of isotopes (e.g., the determination of recharge areas of important springs and the identification of the<br />sources of groundwater pollution) but a lack of laboratory facilities does not allow scientists to tackle these problems. In this research, we<br />have also constructed the first Iranian meteoric water line, the slope and the deuterium excess of which are 6.89 and 6.57‰, respectively.<br />