Environmental Engineering Reference
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Comparison of Relationship Between
the Concentrations of Water Isotopes
in Precipitation in the Cities of Tehran (Iran)
and New Delhi (India)
Maryam Mosaffa, Farzin Nasiri Saleh, and Yousef Khalaj Amirhosseini
Introduction
The term 'Tracerhydrology' is used as a short expression for the use of tracers in
hydrology. It is understood as an advanced method that allows for an integrative
investigation of the hydrologic system (Leibundgut et al. 2009 ). Environmental and
artificial tracer can be used for investigating the movement of water in the hydro-
logical cycle. Artificial tracers are described as those elements deliberately injected
into the hydrologic system (Luhua et al. 2010 ). By studying the motion of the
injected particles, one may measure some physical processes of hydrologic system
such as the escape of water from a reservoir (Evans 1983 ). There are more than
1,000 isotopes known for about 92 chemical elements. Most of these isotopes are
called as environmental isotopes which are either stable or unstable (Leibundgut
et al. 2009 ). The stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen are recognized as impor-
tant traces in hydrological cycle. The heavy stable isotopic components of water,
HD 16 O and H 2 O 18 , occur in natural waters in concentration of about 320 and
2,000 ppm, respectively (Evans 1983 ). The variation of isotopic concentration is
due to fractionation caused by phase changes, evaporation, condensation, precipita-
tion, and snow and ice formation (Chidambaram et al. 2009 ). Isotopic fraction
is affected by meteorological factors such as temperature and altitude change
(Leibundgut et al. 2009 ). The small variations of isotopic concentrations are usually
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