Imagine the following island, land, which is entirely surrounded by ocean. There
ID: 802779 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine the following island, land, which is entirely surrounded by ocean. There are three lakes on the island (#1, 2, and 3) that only receive water from precipitation. Assume the island is surrounded by the ocean, that the ocean water always has the same amount of^18 O in it, and that the lakes only receive water from the precipitation from the ocean. If the wind blows from left to right, then which lake will be most depleted (have the least) amount of^18 O? What if the wind blows from right to left? Which lake would be most depleted for^18 O if the wind blew from top to bottom?Explanation / Answer
Hi,
I am answering the question based on assumption that island has lake 1 on the left and lake 3 on the right most side.
Now if the wind will blow from left to right, that means the sea water will evaporate towards the left side and water vapour will condense and precipitation takes place first above lake 1 followed by lake 2 and lake 3. Since the O18 are the first to precipitate, lake 1 will have highest concentration of O18 and lake 3 will have lowest concentration.
Similarly if the wind will blow from right to left than lake 3 will have highest O18 concentration and lake 1 least. In case the wind blows from top to bottom the first lake to recive precipitation will have lower O18 concentraion as compared to the other lakes, assuming the lake 3 lies on higher elevation, it will most depleted lake in O18 concentration.