Isotope Tracers in Catchment Hydrology

Carol Kendall is a research hydrologist in the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1990, she has been chief of the "Isotope Tracers of Hydrologic and Biogeochemical Processes" project in Menlo Park, California. The purpose of this research project is to develop new methods, concepts, and applications of environmental isotopes to solve problems of national importance. She received her B.S. and M.S. in Geology from the University of California (Riverside), and her Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Maryland. Her main background is in isotope hydrology and aqueous geochemistry. Kendall is coordinator and main instructor of the 5-day Isotope Hydrology training course taught almost yearly for the USGS, and frequently teaches other short-courses. The main focus of isotopic heterogeneity in shallow systems on determining recharge mechanisms, tracing sources and reactions of nitrate in surface waters and groundwaters using oxygen and nitrogen isotopes, and applying a multi-isotope (O,H,C,N,S,Sr) approach to studying watershed hydrology and biochemistry. She has recently become fascinated with "isotope biomonitoring" --the idea of using isotopes of organisms as integrators of environmental conditions at the landscape-scale, including providing information about sources of nutrients in human-impacted environments.