Global meteoric water line

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/global-meteoric-water-line

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the developed?1961 by Harmon Craig
2. What is the primary application?Baseline for interpreting isotopic composition of precipitation for hydrological and geochemical studies
3. Why do scientists use the GMWL?Scientists use the GMWL as a reference line. By comparing the isotope mix in a water sample to the line, they can tell if the water came from local rain, if it has evaporated a lot, or if it came from another climate zone.
4. How does the GMWL help us understand water in the world?The GMWL shows that when water evaporates, the lighter atoms go into the air, and when it rains, the heavier atoms stay in the liquid. This pattern helps explain how clouds form and why rain in different places has different isotope fingerprints.

Stable Isotopes: Atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons, which do not undergo radioactive decay.
Isotopic Fractionation: The process by which the relative abundance of isotopes changes due to differences in their physical or chemical properties.
δ Notation (Delta Notation): A standard way to express the ratio of isotopes in a sample relative to a standard reference material.