Isotopic Parameters of the Mizhirgi River Runoff (Caucasus): Four-Component Hydrograph Separation

Isotopic parameters of runoff in the Mizhirgi Glacier basin during the mid-ablation period were studied, and the isotopic and hydrochemical characteristics of runoff components—melting ice on the glacier tongue, snow from avalanche snowfields, glacial ice, and snow cover in the accumulation area—were determined. A four-component runoff analysis based on two isotopic (δ18O, d-exc) markers and TDS demonstrated the feasibility of studying the melting structure in a high-mountain glacier basin. This approach is based on the differences in deuterium excess of the snow cover formed during the winter and summer seasons in the glacier accumulation area of the Bezengi basin.