Water sources, mixing and evaporation in the Akyatan lagoon, Turkey

Akyatan lagoon, located southeast of Turkey along the Mediterranean coast, is a choked and hypersaline lagoon, and hosts a large and specific biodiversity including endangered sea turtles and migrating birds. Physicochemical properties of this lagoon were investigated by measuring temperature, salinity, and hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios of its waters at a seasonal scale during years 2006 and 2007. Winter and spring seasons were dominated by mixing processes between freshwaters and Mediterranean seawater. The majority of spring season waters are formed by evapoconcentration of brackish water at moderate temperatures of 22 ± 2 °C. During summer, hypersaline waters result from evaporation of seawater and brackish waters formed during spring. Evaporation over the Akyatan lagoon reaches up to 76 wt% based on salinity measurements and operated with a dry (relative humidity of 0.15–0.20) and hot (44 ± 6 °C) air. These residual waters were characterized by the maximal seasonal isotopic enrichment in both deuterium and 18O relative to VSMOW. During autumn, most lagoonal waters became hypersaline and were formed by evaporation of waters that had isotopic compositions and salinities close to that of seawater. These autumnal hypersaline waters result from an air humidity close to 0.45 and an atmospheric temperature of evaporation of 35 ± 5 °C, which are responsible for up to 71 wt% of evaporation, with restricted isotopic enrichments relative to VSMOW. During the warm seasons, the combination of air humidity, wind velocity and temperature were responsible for a large kinetic component in the total isotopic fractionation between water liquid and water vapour.

► Evaporation modes were modelled with the δD–δ18O–Salinity of the lagoon waters. ► Cold seasons are dominated by mixing between freshwater and Mediterranean seawater. ► Many springtime waters are formed by evaporation of brackish water. ► In summer and autumn, most lagoonal waters become hypersaline. ► Evaporation temperature in summer was found to be 44 ± 6 °C.