From Sources to Cave Drip Water, Yarrangobilly, South-Eastern Australia
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Inorganic elements: from sources to cave drip water, Yarrangobilly, south-eastern Australia Carol Vicki TADROS BSc (Hons), USyd A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science October 2018 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ COPYRIGHT STATEMENT 'I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ........................................... Date .2b ....O.dob�r..2DIK ........ ....................................... .. AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT 'I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.' Signed ............................................ Date .. 26 ... Odo.bff.... 20l8.. .............................................. PUBLICATIONS STATEMENT On commencing the part-time PhD program (March 2013), I became custodian of the cave drip water monitoring dataset predating the thesis (2006-2012) and was responsible for its continuation. This thesis is a compilation of my own work. The work described in this thesis has been published and it has been documented in the relevant chapters with acknowledgement. CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I declare that: I have complied with the Thesis Examination Procedure Peer reviewed journal articles arising directly from this thesis: Tadros, C.V., Treble, P.C., Baker, A., Fairchild, I., Hankin, S., Roach, R., Markowska, M., McDonald, J., 2016. ENSO-cave drip water hydrochemical relationship: a 7-year dataset from south-eastern Australia. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. 20: 4625-4640. i Tadros, C.V., Crawford, J., Treble, P.C., Baker, A., Cohen, D.D., Atanacio, A.J., Hankin, S., Roach, R., 2018. Chemical characterisation and source identification of atmospheric aerosols in the Snowy Mountains, south- eastern Australia. Science of The Total Environment. 630: 432-443. Tadros, C.V., Treble, P.C., Baker, A., Hankin, S., Roach, R., 2018. Cave drip water solutes in south-eastern Australia: Constraining sources, sinks and processes. Science of The Total Environment. 651:2175-2186. Peer reviewed journal articles published during doctoral candidature, but not directly related to thesis: Tadros, C.V., Hughes, C.E., Crawford, J., Hollins, S.E. and Chisari, R., 2014. Tritium in Australian precipitation: A 50 year record. Journal of Hydrology. 513: 262-273. Markowska, M., Baker, A., Treble, P.C., Andersen, M.S., Hankin, S., Jex, C.N., Tadros, C.V. and Roach, R., 2015. Unsaturated zone hydrology and cave drip discharge water response: Implications for speleothem paleoclimate record variability. Journal of Hydrology, 529: 662-675. Coleborn, K., Baker, A., Treble, P.C., Andersen, M.S., Baker, A., Tadros, C.V., Tozer, M., Fairchild, I.J., Spate, A. and Meehan, S., 2018. The impact of fire on the geochemistry of speleothem-forming drip water in a sub-alpine cave. Science of The Total Environment, 642: 408-420. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to ANSTO and Dr Suzanne Hollins … for support and making this endeavour possible. NSW NPWS and Yarrangobilly Caves staff …for dedication and on-going field support and access permission. Dr Pauline Treble and Prof. Andy Baker …you are both inspirational scientists. …the knowledge, skills you imparted and your mentorship has been an invaluable gift. Emeritus Prof. Ian Fairchild, Assoc. Prof. Silvia Frisia and Dr Andrea Borsato …it was a privilege to discuss my research with remarkable scientists. Dr Jagoda Crawford …for laughter, encouragement and fruitful discussions. Network of friends and colleagues …for moral support. My husband and companion Dr Amir Tadros …for your steadfast faith and belief in me. …your spontaneous family holidays were a welcomed disruption. My precious children Theodore and Sarah …for being accommodating when studies demanded my full attention. …I hope I have inspired you to be fearless in your pursuit for success. My mother and late father …for instilling in me perseverance and the notion to keep challenging myself. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PUBLICATIONS STATEMENT ...................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... vii 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Context and background ..................................................................................... 2 1.2. Motivations for the research ............................................................................... 8 1.3. Thesis Aim ......................................................................................................... 9 1.4. Thesis overview .................................................................................................. 9 2 SITE DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................. 13 2.1. Regional setting: Yarrangobilly karst landscape .............................................. 14 2.1.1. Location..................................................................................................... 14 2.1.2. Geology ..................................................................................................... 15 2.1.3. Ecology ..................................................................................................... 17 2.1.4. Climate and air mass influences ................................................................ 18 2.2. Harrie Wood Cave ............................................................................................ 21 2.2.1. Site description .......................................................................................... 21 2.2.2. Harrie Wood Cave hydrology ................................................................... 24 2.2.3. Drip site setting ......................................................................................... 26 3 CHEMICAL CHARACTERISATION AND SOURCE IDENTIFICATION OF ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS IN THE SNOWY MOUNTAINS, SOUTH-EASTERN AUSTRALIA .................................................................................................................. 28 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... 29 3.1. Chapter summary ............................................................................................. 30 3.2. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 31 3.3. Methods ............................................................................................................ 35 3.3.1. Study site ................................................................................................... 35 3.3.2. Sampling ................................................................................................... 36 3.3.3. Chemical analysis...................................................................................... 36 3.3.4. Chemical mass closure .............................................................................. 37 3.3.5. Source apportionment model: PMF .......................................................... 38 iv 3.3.6. Back trajectory analysis ............................................................................ 39 3.4. Results .............................................................................................................. 41 3.4.1. PM2.5 chemical composition and mass