Lakes as Sensitive Indicators of Hydrology, Environment, and Climate

Dear Colleagues,

Lakes are a crucial component of the hydrosphere and a natural laboratory for the study of hydrologic processes. Lakes document hydroclimatic variations at local to regional scales and are highly sensitive indicators of the environment. They provide insights into the hydrologic dynamics of the critical zone and constrain biogeochemical and ecological processes that include nutrient cycling and evolution. Early research into these dynamic systems used physical sedimentology, chemical composition, and basic mineralogy. However, the development of mass spectrometry in the last 70 years laid the foundation for a new research frontier in isotope hydrology, with stable and radioactive isotopes revealing previously unrecognized cogs in hydrologic systems. Further instrumental advances have increased the precision and accuracy of measurements (about x10⁴), unlocking a vast toolkit furnished by natural elements and their isotopes. But these new technological advances have yet to be used to their full potential.

We place this Special Issue within this historical context and suggest that accepted manuscripts showcase novel applications of isotopes that advance our understanding of the hydrology of lakes and their catchments, paleoclimate, and the geochemistry of terrestrial waters. We envision that isotope geochemistry will continue to present an expansive and attractive platform for future research on hydrologic processes that will address long-standing questions and create new streams of knowledge that have direct impacts on our environment, industry, and society.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that link the following themes:

• Natural and anthropogenic impacts to lacustrine systems;
• Paleoclimatology or paleolimnology and lake basin evolution;
• Stable isotopes as tracers;
• Insights from the long-term monitoring of lake systems;
• Biogeochemistry of lake systems;
• Groundwater–lake–river interactions;
• Modeling of lacustrine systems.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. E. Troy Rasbury
Dr. Guleed Ali
Prof. Dr. John Luczaj
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Hydrology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• modern lakes
• paleo-lakes
• climate
• hydrological cycle
• water quality
• geochemistry and geochemical modeling
• isotope hydrology