Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183

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Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jvolgeores

Stable isotopes evidence of recycled subduction fluids in the

hydrothermal/volcanic activity across Nicaragua and Costa Rica
Ramírez-Leiva A. a, Sánchez-Murillo R. a,⁎, Martínez-Cruz M. b, Calderón H. c, Esquivel-Hernández G. a,
Delgado V. d, Birkel C. e,f, Gazel E. g, Alvarado G.E. h, Soulsby C. f
a
Stable Isotope Research Group, Chemistry School, Universidad Nacional, P.O. Box: 86-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica
b
Observatorio Sismológico y Vulcanológico de Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional, P.O. Box: 2346-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica
c
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, IGG-CIGEO, UNAN-Managua, P.O. Box: 4598, Nicaragua
d
Centro para la Investigación en Recursos Acuáticos de Nicaragua, CIRA, UNAN-Managua, P.O. Box: 4598, Nicaragua
e
Department of Geography, University of Costa Rica, P.O. Box 11501-2060, San José, Costa Rica
f
Northern Rivers Institute, University of Aberdeen, P.O. Box: AB24 3UF, Aberdeen, Scotland
g
Earth and Atmospheric Science Department, Cornell University, P.O. Box: 14853-1504, Ithaca, NY, USA
h
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, P.O. Box: 10032-1000, San José, Costa Rica

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Central America volcanic front provides a unique opportunity to study hydrothermal inputs and their interac-
Received 10 July 2017 tion and mixing with modern meteoric waters. The objectives of this study were to: a) characterize the isotopic
Received in revised form 27 August 2017 composition (δ18O, δ2H, d-excess, and lc-excess) of hydrothermal/volcanic systems, b) analyze the influence of ki-
Accepted 28 August 2017
netic fractionation and meteoric water inputs in the isotopic composition of hydrothermal waters, and c) estimate
Available online 1 September 2017
the ‘andesitic water’ contribution (recycled subduction fluids) within the volcanic front of Nicaragua and Costa
Keywords:
Rica. Hydrothermal evaporation lines are described as: δ2H = 4.7·δ18O − 13.0 (Costa Rica) and δ2H = 2.7·δ18O
Central America volcanic front − 31.6 (Nicaragua). These regressions are significantly (p b 0.001) deviated from their respective meteoric
Hydrothermal systems water lines: δ2H = 7.6·δ18O + 7.4 (Costa Rica) and δ2H = 7.4·δ18O + 5.2 (Nicaragua). The greater rainfall inputs
Isotopic fractionation in Costa Rica with respect to Nicaragua, resulted in the attenuation of the evaporative effect as observed in the
Recycled subduction fluids strong bimodal distribution of the hydrothermal waters, which can be divided in fluids: a) isotopically-close to me-
Groundwater mixing teoric conditions and b) isotopically-altered by the interaction with recycled subduction fluids and kinetic fraction-
ation. The latter is clearly depicted in the significantly (p b 0.001) low d-excess and lc-excess median values
between Costa Rica (+5.10‰, −5.25‰) and Nicaragua (−2.42‰, −10.65‰), respectively. Poor correlations be-
tween δ18O/δ2H and the elevation gradient emphasize that the contribution of recycled subduction fluids and sub-
sequent surface kinetic fractionation are the main drivers of the isotopic departure from the orographic distillation
trend captured in the rainfall isoscapes. End-member mixing calculations resulted in a significant difference (p b
0.001) between the mean ‘andesitic water’ contribution to the hydrothermal systems of 15.3 ± 10.8 (%, ±1σ)
(Nicaragua) and 19.7 ± 10.3 (%, ±1σ) (Costa Rica). The spectrum of ‘andesitic water’ contribution largely reflects
the degree of mixing with isotopically ‘pre-shifted’ recycled subduction fluids. The latter is supported by previous
strong evidence of mantle-derived N2/He contributions across the volcanic front of Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Central America subduction zone is a complex deformation re-
gion characterized by a rapid (70–90 mm/year) convergence rate of
young (15–25 Ma) oceanic lithosphere (DeMets, 2001; Peacock et al.,
2005; Hoernle et al., 2008), whereby the convergence rate and age of
the incoming lithosphere vary slightly along-strike (Protti et al., 1995;
DeMets, 2001), and mainly responds to the interaction of four plates:
⁎ Corresponding author at: Stable Isotope Research Group, Chemistry School,
Universidad Nacional, Campus Omar Dengo, P.O. Box: 86-3000, Heredia, Costa Rica.
E-mail address: ricardo.sanchez.murillo@una.cr (R. Sánchez-Murillo).
Caribbean, Cocos, Nazca, and South American (Sak et al., 2009). Between
the Cocos and Caribbean plates, convergence rate increases from
60 mm/year (NW) to − 90 mm/year (SE) (DeMets, 2001; Peacock et
al., 2005; Hoernle et al., 2008; Protti et al., 2012). Through this margin,
deep earthquakes record the rupture at the interface of the Cocos-Carib-
bean plates, defining a zone that marks the subducting Cocos plate up to
250 km beneath Nicaragua and about 80 km beneath the Costa Rican
Volcanic front (Protti et al., 1995; Husen et al., 2003; Hoernle et al.,
2008; Arroyo et al., 2009).
Currently, the Costa Rica-Nicaragua subduction zone is a non-accret-
ing margin, which is described by subduction erosion (von Huene and
Scholl, 1991; Ranero and von Huene, 2000; von Huene et al., 2000).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.08.013
0377-0273/© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183
The modern arc develops on a base of volcanic strata, which is related to
arc magmatism in Nicaragua and the Caribbean Oceanic Plateau in Costa
Rica (Denyer and Gazel, 2009 and references therein) The maximum el-
evation of volcanoes along Central America decreases from Guatemala
(Tajamulco volcano: 4220 m a.s.l.) to Nicaragua (San Cristóbal volcano:
1745 m a.s.l.) with a decrease in crustal thickness (50 km to b 35 km)
and variations in the basement geology from continental to oceanic
dominated characteristics, whereas in Costa Rica, volcanoes elevation
increases (Irazú volcano: 3432 m a.s.l.) (45 km) near the amagmatic
gap, then decreases (25 km) beneath central Panamá (La Yeguada vol-
cano: 1297 m a.s.l.) (Leeman et al., 1994). The composition of the
lavas in Nicaragua are typical of arc volcanoes (Feigenson and Carr,
1993; Saginor et al., 2011; Saginor et al., 2013; Gazel et al., 2015), but
the volcanic front lavas in Costa Rica are well-known for their enriched
ocean island basalt - like (OIB-like) signature (e.g., Reagan and Gill,
1989; Feigenson et al., 2004; Gazel et al., 2009). Recent studies have
provided convincing geochemical (i.e. rare trace elements) evidence
that this anomalous OIB-like signature in the volcanic front is derived
from the interaction of the mantle wedge with the Galapagos Hotspot
tracks subducting beneath Costa Rica and Panama (Hoernle et al.,
2008; Gazel et al., 2011, 2015).
This geochemical scenario in Nicaragua and Costa Rica offers the nec-
essary heat and decompression cooling for storing fluids (i.e., meteoric
water, sea water, magmatic water or mixed fluids including gas vents;
Molina and Martí, 2016) within fractured volcanic aquifers, which ulti-
mately constitute the main energy transport mechanism for surface hy-
drothermal manifestations. This hydrothermal upwelling provides heat,
dissolved gases, and minerals to maintain a broad spectrum of ecosys-
tems across the Pacific and Caribbean slopes of Costa Rica and Nicaragua,
but also sustain a large set of hot-spring tourist activities and moderate
hydrothermal energy production (Martínez-Tiffer et al., 1988; Balcazar
et al., 1993; Fridleifsson, 2001; Manzo, 2005). Although, stable isotope
studies have been used to investigate hydrothermal manifestations in
Central America over three decades ago (Fournier et al., 1982; Goff et
al., 1987; Giggenbach and Corrales, 1992; IAEA, 1992; Rowe et al.,
1995; Nieva et al., 1997; Tassi et al., 2005; López et al., 2006; Birkle and
Bundschuh, 2007; Rouwet et al., 2009; Molina and Martí, 2016), these ef-
forts were mainly focused on a specific hydrothermal field or volcano ed-
ifice. To our knowledge, no spatial analysis has been undertaken to
compare the contribution of recycled subduction fluids within the volca-
nic front of Central America using water stable isotopes and second order
variables in hydrothermal system discharges.
In this study, stable isotope archives in hydrothermal waters of Costa
Rica and Nicaragua were combined with new stable isotope data to a)
characterize the isotopic composition (δ18O, δ2H, d-excess, and lc-ex-
cess), b) analyze the influence of secondary kinetic fractionation and me-
teoric water inputs in the isotopic composition of hydrothermal waters,
and c) estimate the ‘andesitic water’ contribution (i.e. recycled subduc-
tion fluids) (Taran et al., 1989; Giggenbach, 1992) within the volcanic
front of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This information provides new insights
regarding the use of stable isotopes and second-order variables as indica-
tors of hydrothermal/volcanic activity, as well as offering spatially-ori-
ented and quantitative evidence of subduction recycled fluid dynamics
within the volcanic front of Central America.
2. Study area description
2.1. Hydrothermal/volcanic activity across Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Costa Rica (52,100 km2) is located in the southern extreme of Cen-
tral America to the west of the Caribbean plate, between the eastern Pa-
cific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. There is a convergent boundary,
where the Cocos plate is subducted beneath the Caribbean plate,
which generated the volcanic front of Costa Rica (Fig. 1). In Costa Rica,
there are about fifteen dormant and five historically active volcanoes
since 1700 to present, most of them are considered of a composite origin
173
(Alvarado, 2009), extending from NW with Orosí volcano (OR) to SE
with Turrialba volcano (TU) (Fig. 1). The volcanic front of Costa Rica is
divided into two main cordilleras (i.e. mountain ranges): Guanacaste
Volcanic Cordillera (GVC), which is a NW-trending chain of volcanoes
(Orosí, OR; Rincón de la Vieja, RV; Miravalles, MV; and Tenorio, TE;
Alvarado, 2009) and the Central Volcanic Cordillera (CVC) (Platanar,
PA; Poás, PO; Barva, BA; Irazú, IR; and Turrialba, TU). Between GVC
and CVC, two twin isolated volcanoes exist: Arenal (AR) and Chato
(not shown in Fig. 1, it is located next to AR) (Carr and Stoiber, 1990;
Herrstrom et al., 1995; Husen et al., 2003; Alvarado, 2009) (Fig. 1).
The GVC is considered a geothermal province with particular geo-
chemical signatures (Giggenbach and Corrales, 1992; Molina and
Martí, 2016), which are transitional between an isotopically depleted
mantle source and a high subduction signal characteristic of the Nicara-
guan volcanoes as well as the enriched mantle source and limited sub-
duction signal characteristic of the central Costa Rican volcanoes (Carr
and Stoiber, 1990; Herrstrom et al., 1995; Gazel et al., 2015). Multiple
hydrothermal systems have been identified at the slopes (mainly Pacific
facing slopes) of AR, RV, and MV volcanoes. In addition, PO, IR, and TU
volcanoes have hydrothermal systems with fluid discharge temperature
close to 90 °C (Giggenbach and Corrales, 1992; Fehn et al., 2002; Marini
et al., 2003; Zimmer et al., 2004; Moya et al., 2005; López et al., 2006;
Phillips-Lander et al., 2014).
Nicaragua (130,700 km2) is located between the Caribbean plate to
the east, and the Cocos plate to the west (Arengi and Hodgson, 2000).
The active volcanic front (developed 350 ka ago; Carr et al., 2007;
Brasse et al., 2015) is located in western Nicaragua (within the Cordille-
ra Los Marrabios), and it is represented by a great variety of volcanic for-
mations (i.e., active volcanoes, explosion craters, and scoria cones),
along which most of the areas of geothermal priority are also located
(Martínez-Tiffer et al., 1988). The volcanism in Nicaragua is located
mainly in the Pacific slope of the country (Carr et al., 2004) (Cosigüina,
CS; San Cristóbal, SC; Telica, TE; El Hoyo, EH; Momotombo, MT;
Apoyeque, AP; Masaya, MA; Mombacho, MO; Zapatera, ZP; Ciguatepe,
CI; Las Lajas, LA; Concepción, CO; and Maderas, MD; Fig. 1), and it is di-
vided into segments that are between 100 km and 300 km long (Carr et
al., 2007; Saginor et al., 2011). Nicaragua has a region of active subsi-
dence, which is located roughly parallel to and within the Nicaraguan
Depression (i.e., Lake Nicaragua) (Fig. 1), where sediments cover the
bases of the active volcanoes (Saginor, 2008).
The Nicaraguan territory includes at least ten stratovolcanoes (in-
cluding nine active volcanoes, calderas, and pyroclastic cones; Simkin
et al., 2011). Conduction to the surrounding ground and the condensa-
tion of the gas are examples of losing heat mechanisms within hydro-
thermal fluid manifestations, an example of the thermal structure is
the Masaya volcano, where diurnal temperature variations are b 5 °C,
mainly due to the influence of rain events or variations about 10 °C relat-
ed to volcanic events (Pearson et al., 2008).
2.2. Governing climatic features across Costa Rica and Nicaragua
Four regional air circulation patterns predominantly control the cli-
mate of Costa Rica: NE trade winds, the latitudinal migration of the Inter-
tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), cold continental outbreaks, and
sporadic influence of Caribbean cyclones (Waylen et al., 1996; Sáenz
and Durán, 2015). These circulation processes produce two predominant
rainfall maxima, one in May and June and the second in September–Oc-
tober, which are interrupted by a relative minimum in July–August
known as the Mid-Summer Drought (MSD) (Magaña et al., 1999;
Maldonado et al., 2013). In addition to these circulation processes, the
continental divide of Costa Rica (i.e. a mountainous range that extends
from NW to SE with a maximum elevation at the Chirripó peak:
3820 m a.s.l.) also influences rainfall patterns across the country, dividing
the territory into the Caribbean and Pacific slopes. In general, annual
rainfall in Costa Rica varies from b 1500 mm in the drier northwestern re-
gion, 2500 mm in the Central Valley, and up to 7000 mm on the
174 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183

Fig. 1. Overview of Central America showing the volcanic front of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Volcanoes are classified according to the Global Volcanism Program, (2013) code (http://
volcano.si.edu/gvp_votw.cfm) from the Smithsonian Institution. Major subduction zones (solid-triangle line) and continental transform faults (dashed line) are also shown for
reference. Estimated convergence rate between Cocos and Caribbean plates taken from DeMets (2001) Peacock et al. (2005). Main volcanoes in Costa Rica: Orosí-Cacao (OR),
Miravalles (MI), Tenorio (TE), Arenal (AR), Platanar (PA), Poás (PO), Barva (BA), Irazú (IR), and Turrialba (TU). Main volcanoes in Nicaragua: Cosigüina (CS), San Cristóbal (SC), Telica
(TE), El Hoyo (EH), Momotombo (MT), Apoyeque (AP), Masaya (MA), Mombacho (MO), Zapatera (ZP), Concepción (CO), and Maderas (MD). Elevation gradient (m a.s.l.) is color coded.

Caribbean side of the Talamanca range (Fig. 2A). Temperature seasonal-
ity is low throughout the country (b2 °C). The mean annual temperature
on the coastal lowlands is about 27 °C, 20 °C in the Central Valley at
around 1100 m a.s.l., and below 10 °C at the summits of the Talamanca
range (Fig. 2B)
Similarly, Nicaragua's landscape is divided by the central highlands
into the Pacific domain and the large extension of the Caribbean low-
lands (Solé et al., 2016). Overall, the climate of Nicaragua is controlled
by 1) macro-scale systems (i.e., the north-American continental anticy-
clone, the Azores's oceanic anticyclones, tropical cyclones, ITCZ, and
ENSO), 2) meso-scale systems such as tropical waves, convective cells,
and troughs; and 3) local systems, marine breezes, and mountain
waves (INETER, 2017). Due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the rain-
fall regime is strongly affected by ENSO events, resulting in large dry
spells across the Pacific domain, northern and northeastern central re-
gions. In general, annual rainfall in Nicaragua varies from b 800 mm in
the drier northern and central regions, 2000 mm in the Pacific domain,
2500 mm on the windward slope of the central highlands, and up to
5000 mm on the Caribbean side (Fig. 2A). Mean annual temperature in
Nicaragua is about 25.4 °C. High dry season temperatures could reach
up to 40 °C in the central and northern regions (INETER, 2017) (Fig. 2B).
3. Stable isotope data compilation and analysis
Stable isotope archives of hydrothermal fluids of Costa Rica (N =
340) and Nicaragua (N = 309) were obtained directly from the Water
Resources Programme of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) (Fig. 3, see Supplemental material database S1). Site characteris-
tics within IAEA archives are limited to the historical information avail-
able. Sampling sites comprised few mud-pools such as the ‘San Jacinto
Hervideros’ within the Telica volcano (Nicaragua) and ‘Pailas at the
Rincón de la Vieja volcano (Costa Rica), hot springs (over 70% of the sam-
ples), and few drilled and dug wells. Samples were collected following
IAEA sampling procedures (available at: http://www-naweb.iaea.org/
na/index.html). Only samples containing both δ18O and δ2H were used,
since second-order calculations such as deuterium excess (hereafter, d-
excess; Dansgaard, 1964) and the line-conditioned excess (hereafter lc-
excess; Landwehr and Coplen, 2006) required both isotopic values.
Costa Rica's archive dataset is composed of five sampling campaigns be-
tween 1982 and 2005, whereas Nicaragua's archive dataset comprises
seven sampling campaigns between 1968 and 2005. Historical stable iso-
tope analyses were conducted either by the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) or IAEA-approved laboratories using Isotope Ratio Mass
Spectrometry.
Isotope records in rainfall were obtained from the Global Network of
Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP, 2017). Although Costa Rica has an active
rainfall monitoring network, only GNIP records were used to compare
the Local Meteoric Water Lines (LMWLs) of both countries. GNIP
monthly records for Costa Rica (N = 679) are composed of 46 monitor-
ing stations, ranging from 0 to 3000 m a.s.l. A detailed description of the
GNIP records of Costa Rica and sampling sites are presented in Sánchez-
Murillo et al. (2013). GNIP monthly records from Nicaragua (N = 51; in-
termittent monthly sampling between 1968 and 2005) are composed of
28 monitoring stations mainly on the Pacific domain and central high-
lands, ranging from 22 to 1300 m a.s.l. The remoteness and difficult ac-
cess has historically limited isotope observations across the Caribbean
lowlands of Nicaragua.
In addition, raster grids of mean annual δ18O composition for Nicara-
gua and Costa Rica were used (ArcGIS 10.4, ESRI, USA) to compare spatial
trends over the volcanic front of both countries; insufficient historical
and recent isotopic data in Nicaragua limit the computation of rainfall
isoscapes with a greater resolution. Raster grids were extracted and
adapted from Bowen and Revenaugh (2003):
http://wateriso.utah.edu/waterisotopes/pages/data_access/ArcGrids.
html
In addition, 70 recent samples of hydrothermal waters (mostly chlo-
ride and acid-sulfate brines) (collected and analyzed between 2015 and
2016) from Costa Rica were included in the database (Fig. 3; see Supple-
mental material database S1). Samples were collected as close as possible
to the most prominent discharge point, avoiding pools with potential
steady-state evaporation. Samples were filtered using a Midisart PTFE
(polytetrafluorethylene) 0.45 μm syringe membrane (Sartorius AG, Ger-
many), transferred to 30 mL HDPE (high-density polyethylene) vials,
and stored at 5 °C until analysis. Stable isotope analysis was conducted
 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183 175

Fig. 2. A) Mean annual rainfall (MAR, color coded in mm/yr) for Costa Rica (Sánchez-Murillo and Birkel, 2016) and Nicaragua (INETER, 2005). B) Mean annual temperature (MAT, °C) for
Costa Rica (adapted from Esquivel et al., 2017) and Nicaragua (INETER, 2005).

at the Stable Isotope Research Group facilities of the Universidad Nacional
(Heredia, Costa Rica) using a Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy water iso-
tope analyzer L2120-i (Picarro, USA). The secondary standards were:
Moscow Tap Water, MTW (δ2H = −131.4‰, δ18O = −17.0‰), Deep
Ocean Water, DOW (δ2H = −1.7‰, δ18O = −0.2‰), and Commercial
Bottled Water, CAS (δ2H = −64.3‰, δ18O = −8.3‰). MTW and DOW
standards were used to normalize the results to the VSMOW2-SLAP2
scale, while CAS was used as a quality control and drift control standard.
The analytical long-term uncertainty was: ±0.5 (‰) (1σ) for δ2H, ±0.1
(‰) (1σ) for δ18O. Stable isotope compositions are presented in delta no-
tation δ (‰, per mil), relating the ratios (R) of 18O/16O and 2H/1H, relative
to Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (V-SMOW).
The d-excess was calculated for each sample following Eq. (1). In ad-
dition, to determine the degree of deviation of hydrothermal waters
from the LMWLs, lc-excess was calculated according to Landwehr and
Coplen (2006) (Eq. (2)) (Costa Rica: a = 7.61, b = 7.4; Nicaragua: a
= 7.43, b = 5.2). This calculation uses the LMWLs as a reference rather
than simply using the Euclidian distance from the Global Meteoric
Water Line (GMWL; Craig, 1961) (Sprenger et al., 2017). Negative values
of lc-excess indicate kinetic fractionation and are often found in isotopi-
cally-enriched waters. The coefficients a and b are the slope and the y-in-
tercept of the LMWLs, respectively. The y-intercept (b) and slope (a)
were obtained from Costa Rica (Sánchez-Murillo et al., 2013) and Nicara-
gua isotope records from the GNIP database (GNIP, 2017). Based on the
analytical precision reported, the estimated average uncertainties are
±1.1‰ (d-excess) and ±1.5‰ (lc-excess).
d−excess ¼ δ2 H−8∙δ18 O ð1Þ
lc−excess ¼ δ2 H−a∙δ18 O−b ð2Þ
176 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183

Fig. 3. Distribution of sampling sites within the volcanic front of Nicaragua (N = 309) and Costa Rica (N = 419) (green dots).

Following Giggenbach (1992) and Giggenbach and Corrales (1992), but it was only used to represent the ‘andesitic water’ space in the dual
the fraction of ‘andesitic water’ (Xa) (i.e., waters associated with more si- isotope plot. A Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric one way analysis of vari-
licic andesitic magmatism typical of mature volcanic arc systems; Taran ance on ranks (Kruskal and Wallis, 1952) was applied to test if there
et al., 1989) was calculated for each hydrothermal sample exhibiting was stochastic dominance regarding the ‘andesitic contribution’ values
lc-excess values b 0 (i.e., indicator of kinetic fractionation; see Supple- between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. A significant difference was deter-
mental material database S2), using an end-member mixing model pre- mined (p b 0.001) when the median values were greater than expected
sented in Eq. (3): by chance. In addition, a multiple comparison procedure was applied
using Dunn's method (Dunn, 1961) to test if there is evidence of stochas-
ðδh −δm Þ tic dominance between the samples. Dunn's method approximates exact
Xa ¼ ð3Þ
ðδa −δm Þ rank-sum test statistics by using the mean rankings of the results in each
group from the previous Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test and pro-
where δh is the δ18O (‰) of any hydrothermal water, δm corresponds to vides an inference in mean ranks in each group. Density distribution
the mean annual δ18O (‰) in meteoric water (Table 1), and δa denotes analysis between the stale isotope and second-order variables was con-
the widely-used (e.g. Hedenquist and Lowenstern, 1994; Chiodini et al., ducted using the statistical programming language R (R Core Team,
2001; Tassi et al., 2005; Birkle and Bundschuh, 2007) δ18O (‰) reference 2014).
composition for ‘andesitic water’ isotope space: + 10 ± 3‰
(Giggenbach, 1992). Due to the high collinearity between δ18O and δ2H 4. Results
(r = 0.99), only δ18O values were used for end-member calculations.
The expanded uncertainty for Xa corresponded to ±4.8%. The reference 4.1. Stable isotope characteristics in meteoric waters
value of δ2H in ‘andesitic water’ is − 20 ± 10‰ (Giggenbach, 1992),
Mean annual δ18O in rainfall of Costa Rica ranged from −10.1‰ to
−1.8‰ with an overall mean of −6.7 ± 1.4‰, while δ2H ranged from
Table 1
Summary of isotopic composition (‰) and second-order variables (‰) in rainfall and hy- − 17.3‰ to − 70.4‰ with a mean of − 43.2 ± 10.3‰. The d-excess
drothermal/volcanic systems of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. values varied from +2.9‰ to +14.4‰ with a mean of +10.8‰. In gen-
eral, the meteoric water line of Costa Rica is described as: δ2H =
Costa Rica
7.61·δ18O + 7.40 (r2 = 0.98, p b 0.001, N = 679; Sánchez-Murillo et
Variables (‰) Hydrothermal water Rainfall al., 2013) (Fig. 4A; Table 1). In Costa Rica, a clear isotopic separation in
Mean ± σ Max Min Mean ± 1σ Max Min rainfall ratios is observed across the Pacific and Caribbean domains,
δ18O −4.5 ± 2.4 +6.2 −11.5 −6.7 ± 1.4 −1.8 −10.1 which is explained by the prevailing trade winds direction (NE → SW),
δ2H −34.2 ± 9.0 +7.6 −82.3 −43.2 ± 10.3 −17.3 −70.4 two distinct moisture sources (Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific
d-excess +1.8 ± 9.8 +28.4 −63.1 +10.8 ± 2.0 +14.4 +2.9 Ocean), distinct rainfall regimes (spatially and temporally), and the oro-
lc-excess −7.3 ± 9.0 +18.4 −68.2 +0.4 ± 2.5 +4.8 −10.6 graphic distillation across the central mountain range (Sánchez-Murillo
Nicaragua
et al., 2016) (Fig. 4D).
Mean annual δ18O in rainfall of Nicaragua ranged from −10.2‰ to
Variables (‰) Hydrothermal water Rainfall
− 2.9‰ with a mean of − 6.4 ± 1.9‰, while δ2H ranged from
Mean ± SD Max Min Mean ± SD Max Min −72.5‰ to −12.2‰ with a mean of −42.2 ± 14.1‰. Deuterium excess
δ18O −5.2 ± 2.1 +5.8 −11.2 −6.4 ± 1.9 −2.9 −10.2 values varied from +3.3‰ to +18.7‰ with a mean of +8.9‰ (Table 1).
δ2H −45.6 ± 7.8 −8.2 −66.4 −42.2 ± 14.1 −12.2 −72.5 The meteoric water line of Nicaragua is described as: δ2H = 7.43·δ18O
d-excess −4.1 ± 12.3 +28.7 −54.8 +8.9 ± 3.3 +18.7 +3.3 + 5.2 (r2 = 0.95, p b 0.001, N = 52) (Fig. 4A; Table 1). Regarding the
lc-excess −12.3 ± 11.2 +17.2 −56.6 −0.02 ± 3.17 +7.8 −5.7
moisture transport processes, Central America is affected by the direct
 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183 177

Fig. 4. A) Dual stable isotope plot for hydrothermal systems in Nicaragua (red down-triangles) and Costa Rica (blue up-triangles). The GMWL (black line) is shown as reference. Costa Rica
(blue dashed line) (Sánchez-Murillo et al., 2013) and Nicaragua (red dashed line) (GNIP, 2017) LMWLs are also included. The filled-rectangle denotes the end-member ‘andesitic water’
space described by Giggenbach (1992). B and C) Density distribution plots for δ18O (‰) and δ2H (‰) in hydrothermal systems of Costa Rica and Nicaragua; dashed lines represent the
median value. D) Mean annual δ18O spatial variability in rainfall adapted from Bowen and Revenaugh, 2003).

influence of vapor fluxes from the Caribbean Sea and the eastern tropi-
cal Pacific Ocean. The semi-closed basin of the Caribbean Sea (δ2H =
−75.0‰ and δ18O = −10.6‰, extracted from Good et al., 2015) has a
more enriched marine isotope vapor ratio than the eastern tropical Pa-
cific Ocean (δ2H = − 100.0‰ and δ18O = − 13.75‰, extracted from
Good et al., 2015) with an overall difference of − 25‰ (δ2H) and
− 3.2‰ (δ18O). Similarly, δ18O ratios in seawater across the Central
America region show a relative difference of 1–2‰ between the Carib-
bean Sea and the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (LeGrande and
Schmidt, 2006).
These dissimilarities are well depicted in the rainfall isoscape of Costa
Rica and Nicaragua (Fig. 4D), where the most enriched values occurred in
the Caribbean lowlands, while the most depleted values lie along the in-
terior mountain range and along the Pacific coast. The weakening of the
trade winds from May to November allows the incursion of Pacific mois-
ture to the Central American Isthmus, resulting in intense convective
rainfall during May and June, and throughout August to October
(Maldonado et al., 2013) with more depleted isotopic values. From De-
cember to April, the trade winds present their maximum velocities pro-
viding intense monthly rainfall and near-uniformly enriched isotope
values across the Caribbean lowlands. Although, the prevailing trade
wind direction across Nicaragua is similar to Costa Rica, the absence of
a more continuous and high mountain range barrier, results in a more
uniform isotopic composition in rainfall across Nicaragua. Enrichment
is observed from the Caribbean lowlands towards the Nicaraguan De-
pression and depletion is observed at the windward slope of the volcanic
front and within the northern central region, close to the Honduran bor-
der (Fig. 4D).
4.2. Isotopic deviation within the hydrothermal/volcanic systems
In Costa Rica, δ18O in hydrothermal systems ranged from −11.5‰ to
+6.2‰ with a mean of −4.5 ± 2.4‰, whereas δ2H composition varied
from − 82.3‰ to +7.6‰ with a mean of −34.2 ± 9.0‰ (Fig. 4 B and
C; Table 1). The hydrothermal water line (HWL) (i.e., evaporation line)
of Costa Rica can be described as: δ2H = 4.70·δ18O − 13.0 (r2 = 0.79,
N = 41, p b 0.001) (Fig. 4A). Tassi et al. (2005), reported a HWL for the
Rincón de la Vieja (RV) hydrothermal field of δ2H = 2.70·δ18O + 12.2
(N = 16). Similarly, d-excess varied from −63.1‰ to +28.4‰ with a
mean of + 1.8 ± 9.8‰ and lc-excess values ranged from − 68.2‰ to
+18.4‰ with a mean of −7.3 ± 9.0‰ (Fig. 5 A, B, and C; Table 1). In
the case of Costa Rica, a clear bimodal distribution is observed among
the hydrothermal water samples. The latter is explained by the strong
isotopic separation in rainfall between the Pacific and Caribbean slopes
(Fig. 5 D and E) and further emphasizes the importance of recharge
mixing from two distinct meteoric water inputs.
For Nicaragua, δ18O composition ranged from − 11.2‰ to + 5.8‰
with a mean of − 5.2 ± 2.1‰, while δ2H composition varied from
− 66.4‰ to − 8.2‰ with a mean of − 45.6 ± 7.8‰ (Fig. 4B and C,
Table 1). The HWL of Nicaragua can be described as: δ2H = 2.71·δ18O
− 31.6 (r2 = 0.52, N = 309) (Fig. 4A). Elkins et al. (2006) reported a
slope of 3.6 in Momotombo (MO) vapor samples and suggested a large
degree of mixing between regional meteoric water and a magmatic
vapor component. In Nicaragua, d-excess composition ranged from
−54.8‰ to +28.7‰ with a mean of −4.1 ± 12.3‰ and lc-excess varied
from −56.6‰ to +17.2‰ with a mean of −12.3 ± 11.2‰ (Fig. 5 A, B,
and C). Contrary to the observed bimodal distribution of Costa Rica's
178 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183

Fig. 5. A) Relationship between δ2H (‰) and d-excess (‰) in hydrothermal systems across Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The dashed line represents the global mean (+10‰) for d-excess. B)
Relationship between δ2H (‰) and lc-excess (‰) in hydrothermal systems across Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The dashed line represents lc-excess value of zero. The light-blue box contains
a group of samples sharing isotopic similarity with meteoric conditions, while the red box denotes samples with a large evaporative effect and interaction with recycled subduction fluids.
C) Box plots showing d-excess (‰) and lc-excess (‰) distribution for Nicaragua and Costa Rica including median, 25th and 75th percentiles, and error bars. Crosses denote the number of
outliers. D and E) Density distribution plots for d-excess (‰) and lc-excess (‰) in hydrothermal systems of Costa Rica and Nicaragua; dashed lines represent the median value.

hydrothermal waters, in Nicaragua this effect is slightly attenuated by
the overall uniformity of the meteoric water input across the volcanic
front (Fig. 5 D and E) due to the absence of a strong orographic effect.
4.3. End-member mixing calculations
The combination of a magmatic end-member (Giggenbach, 1992),
well constrained rainfall isotopic ratios (isoscapes), and a large spatial
coverage of hydrothermal samples, allowed the calculation of ‘andesitic
water’ (recycled subduction fluids) contribution within the volcanic
front of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the percentage of contri-
bution ranged from 0.12 (%) to 77.3 (%) with a mean of 19.7 ± 10.3 (%)
and a median value of 22.3 (%). For Nicaragua, the estimated ‘andesitic
water’ input ranged from 0.6 (%) to 74.4 (%) with a mean of 15.3 ±
10.8 (%) and a median value of 14.6 (%) (Fig. 6A). A Kruskal-Wallis
non-parametric analysis of variance followed by an all pairwise compar-
ison determined the statistically significant difference (p b 0.001) be-
tween the median values in both countries. Density distribution
analysis (Fig. 6B) exhibited a particular threshold of ‘andesitic water’
contribution close to 40% (98th percentile of the samples with lc-excess
b 0), with exceptions for crater water and mud-pool samples (Poás crater
water, ‘San Jacinto Hervideros’ and ‘Pailas’), where steady-state evapora-
tion largely affects the isotopic deviation and resulted in greater appar-
ent ‘andesitic water’ contributions.
4.4. Isotopic spatial variability across the hydrothermal/volcanic systems
In Costa Rica, more enriched δ18O and δ2H values occurred along the
GVC (northern Pacific region) (Fig. 1.), while the most depleted values
were observed along the Pacific slope and CVC (Fig. 7A, showing only
δ18O, since high collinearity with δ2H reproduced the same spatial pat-
tern). The latter partially relies on the isotopic distribution of rainfall in
the country, where depleted compositions are a normal feature in the Pa-
cific domain and high elevation mountains (central and southeastern re-
gions) (Fig. 4D). Topographic depressions between volcano edifices or –
in general – along the main mountain range (crossing the country in
NW-SE direction) facilitate the transport of air masses from the Caribbe-
an domain, resulting in the contribution of enriched Caribbean-type rain-
fall to the Pacific slope volcanic aquifers (Sánchez-Murillo et al., 2016)
and further enhanced a bimodal distribution within the hydrothermal
 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183
Fig. 6. A) Relationship between ‘andesitic water’ contribution (%) and lc-excess (‰) in
Costa Rica (blue up-triangles) and Nicaragua (red down-triangles). Grey-dashed line
represents the 98th percentile with a maximum value of 40%. B) Density distribution
plot for the ‘andesitic water’ contribution (%) in Costa Rica and Nicaragua; dashed lines
represent the median value.
systems that experienced rainfall regimes influenced by Pacific and Ca-
ribbean moisture.
Deuterium excess and lc-excess exhibited less spatial variability with
low values (Fig. 7B and C) from active volcanoes such as Rincón de la
Vieja (RV, Las Pailas mud pool, d-excess = − 43.1‰, lc-excess = −
48.1‰) and Poás (PO, crater water: d-excess = −63.1‰, lc-excess =
−68.2‰) (Fig. 8A and C). Overall, d-excess and lc-excess indicated the
predominance of two distinct types of hydrothermal fluids: a) isotopical-
ly-altered by kinetic fractionation (particularly within the GVC) and b)
isotopically-close to meteoric conditions showing d-excess values near
+10‰ or greater as a result of a common enhanced moisture recycling
and the wetter rainfall regime in the CVC and Pacific lowlands.
Isotope compositions across the volcanic front of Nicaragua were fair-
ly variable and exhibited no particular isotopic trend when compared to
the rainfall isoscape (Fig. 4D). Enriched δ18O values were concentrated in
the ‘San Jacinto Hervideros’ (i.e., boiling mud pools; close to Telica volca-
no, TE) and within the Momotombo volcano (MT) hydrothermal field
(δ18O ranging from +3.2 up to + 5.8‰) (Fig. 7D and 8C). Contrary to
Costa Rica's hydrothermal fluids, where two distinct groups were identi-
fied, in Nicaragua 87% of the samples presented lc-excess and d-excess
values below 0, suggesting strong presence of secondary evaporation
processes (Fig. 7E and F); however, the limited number of samples
from deep wells restricted the possibility of separating surface evapora-
tion from underground fractionation effects. However, only 8% of the
samples exhibited d-excess values greater than +10‰, reinforcing the
evidence of the drier conditions within the Dry Corridor of Nicaragua
(Hidalgo et al., 2017) and the limited subsidence of recycled moisture.
Climate conditions along the Pacific slope of Nicaragua represented by
a drier rainfall regime (i.e., less potential meteoric water mixing) and
greater ambient temperatures (Fig. 2A and B), increase the potential of
surface kinetic fractionation of the hydrothermal fluids.
5. Discussion
5.1. Isotopic deviation and recycled subduction fluids
Early descriptions of isotopic deviations (between 3 and 5‰ in δ18O)
from LMWLs in high temperature waters were attributed mainly to
179
isotopic exchange of δ18O during rock-water interactions, consequently,
also showed the imprint water-rock ratios (Craig, 1963; Blattner, 1993).
These highly evolved waters (i.e. completely equilibrated fluids with
hosting rocks at high temperatures) often exhibit δ18O and δ2H so pro-
foundly modified, which in turn, can no longer be used to determine
the fluid origin (Criss, 1999). In addition, these early studies omitted
or considered the ‘andesitic water’ contribution to be insignificant
(b1%), therefore, unlikely to be responsible of the observed isotopic de-
viations from meteoric water conditions.
Taran et al. (1989) used the name ‘andesitic water’ to describe the
quite distinct isotopic composition of fumaroles condensates from volca-
noes in Kamchatka (Russia), and the authors associated HWLs with
slopes close to 2–3 to non-equilibrium evaporation (at near boiling tem-
peratures) from steam-heated pools. Giggenbach (1992) provided a
widely used (e.g. Hedenquist and Lowenstern, 1994; Chiodini et al.,
2001; Tassi et al., 2005; Birkle and Bundschuh, 2007) isotopic range for
‘andesitic water’ condensates, limiting the isotopic composition to −20
± 10‰ for δ2H and −10 ± 3‰ for δ18O (Fig. 4A) and reported mean ‘an-
desitic water’ contribution in the northern Pacific region of the volcanic
front of Costa Rica close to 18% (Giggenbach and Corrales, 1992). Within
the volcanic front of Nicaragua, the HWLs (δ2H = 2.71·δ18O − 31.6; r2 =
0.52, N = 309) (Fig. 4A), clearly indicated a notable departure from me-
teoric conditions due to potential intense kinetic fractionation, which is
reflected in the consistent and significant (p b 0.001) low d-excess and
lc-excess median values (Fig. 5D and E). An important aspect is that
low relative humidity (40–60%) and high dry season temperature (up
to 40 °C) within the Pacific slope of Nicaragua (i.e., part of the Dry Corri-
dor of Central America; Hidalgo et al., 2017) may also enhance surface ki-
netic fractionation.
A direct comparison of the slope and intercept ratios in the HWLs of
Nicaragua and Costa Rica suggested a greater kinetic fractionation that
coupled with drier/warmer near-surface ambient conditions ultimately
enhances the deviation from local meteoric compositions in Nicaragua
(slopeNIC/slopeCR = 0.58; interceptNIC/intercepCR = 2.43). Nevertheless,
the end-member mixing model (Giggenbach, 1992) estimated slightly
greater ‘andesitic water’ contribution in the hydrothermal systems of
Costa Rica (mean = 19.7 ± 10.3 (%)) compared to Nicaragua (mean
= 15.3 ± 10.8 (%) (Fig. 6A and B). However, a Kruskal-Wallis test deter-
mined the statistically significant difference (p b 0.001) between the me-
dian values of the estimated ‘andesitic water’ contribution in both
countries. Only few samples in both countries were above the density
distribution threshold of 40% (grey dashed line, Fig. 6A) in terms of ‘an-
desitic water’ contribution, exclusively for water samples from large hy-
drothermal fields (boiling mud pools, Fig. 8 A, B, and C) and active craters
(e.g. Poás volcano, PO), which also experienced steady-state evaporation
of brine fluids at elevated temperatures (Rowe et al., 1995; Rouwet et al.,
2016).
In general, the isotopic composition and second order variables
presented a clear bimodal distribution in Costa Rica's hydrothermal
systems (Fig. 4 A and B, and 5 D and E) where a clear spatial pattern
is evident, whereas in Nicaragua the distribution of isotopic compo-
sition is less influenced by the meteoric isotopic input but largely af-
fected by kinetic fractionation and potentially near-surface ambient
conditions. In addition, relative poor correlations (Costa Rica, r2 =
0.22; Nicaragua, r2 = 0.31) between δ18O and the elevation gradient
suggested that contribution of ‘andesitic water’ and subsequent ki-
netic fractionation are the main drivers of the observed isotopic de-
parture from the expected orographic distillation trend captured in
the rainfall isoscapes.
5.2. Meteoric and recycled subduction fluids: groundwater perspective
within the hydrothermal/volcanic systems
The inherent complexity of volcanic-originated aquifers, particularly,
in steep and highly fractured groundwater reservoirs, whereby lateral
and vertical meteoric water mixing occurs (Madrigal-Solís et al., 2017),
180 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183

Fig. 7. Isoscapes of hydrothermal waters of Nicaragua and Costa Rica: A–B) Spatial variability of δ18O (‰). C–D) Spatial variability of d-excess (‰). E–F) Spatial variability of lc-excess (‰).
Volcanoes acronyms are described in Fig. 1 and Section 2.1. Elevation gradient (m a.s.l.) is color coded.

challenges existing models of subsurface water flow paths and storage
(Delcamp et al., 2016) in such systems. In terms of the ‘andesitic water’
interaction with meteoric waters, stable isotopes revealed a maximum
contribution threshold of 40% (98th percentile) (Fig. 6A). Elkins et al.
(2006), reported mantle signature contribution to Nicaraguan volcanic
and geothermal gases of 54%, based on N2/He measurements at the
Mombacho volcano (MO, Nicaragua). Giggenbach and Corrales (1992)
reported up to 18% of ‘andesitic water’ contribution to hydrothermal
fluids within the MV, TE, and RV volcanoes in the northern Pacific por-
tion of the volcanic front of Costa Rica. More recently, Molina and Martí
(2016) estimated a magmatic water contribution in the western slope
of RV volcano of approximately 16.4%, which resulted in a meteoric
water contribution of 83.6% within this geothermal reservoir. In the
case of Costa Rica, the meteoric water contribution to groundwater sys-
tems – at moderate and high altitudes within the volcanic front – is com-
posed of two rainfall types: depleted Pacific-type (mean annual value
across the Pacific domain = − 7.0 ± 1.0‰) and enriched Caribbean-
type (mean annual value across the Caribbean domain = − 5.0 ±
2.4‰) (Sánchez-Murillo et al., 2016). The wetter rainfall regime across
the Costa Rica's Pacific slope (roughly 1000 mm greater than Nicaragua's
Pacific domain, produces a masking effect reflected in a group of samples
plotted along the LMWLs with a regression line of δ2H = 7.97·δ18O
+ 12.2; r2 = 0.99, N = 95, 22.6% of total samples), whereas such
masking cannot be identified in Nicaragua.
 A. Ramírez-Leiva et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 345 (2017) 172–183
Fig. 8. Photographs of hydrothermal systems from Costa Rica and Nicaragua: A) Las Pailas mud pool, Rincón de la Vieja (RV) volcano, Costa Rica (Courtesy of M. Martínez and Wendy Saéz,
OVSICORI, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica). B) Active degassing at Las Pailas mud pool, Rincón de la Vieja (RV) volcano, Costa Rica (Courtesy of G. Alvarado-Induni, ICE, Costa Rica). C) San
Jacinto ‘Hervideros’ (mud boiling pool), Telica (TE) volcano hydrothermal field, Nicaragua (source: www.vianica.com). D) Jaulares hydrothermal spring, northeastern flank of the Irazú
(IR) volcano, Costa Rica. The yellow-squared inset shows a zoom-in of iron oxides deposits at 36 °C (Courtesy of R. Sánchez-Murillo, Stable Isotope Research Group, Universidad
Nacional, Costa Rica).
5.3. Recycled subduction fluids origin
The source of the ‘andesitic water’ is most likely recycled seawater,
which enters the subduction Central America zone as water bound in hy-
drous mineral subducting slab (Giggenbach, 1992; Ryan and Chauvel,
2013; Zamboni et al., 2016). The large spectrum of ‘andesitic water’ con-
tribution (Fig. 6A) within the hydrothermal systems of Costa Rica and
Nicaragua largely reflects the degree of interaction and exchange with
isotopically ‘pre-shifted’ recycled fluids (i.e. fluids generally higher in
δ18O than the LMWLs). The latter is supported by several studies of
helium ratios (3He/4He) across the volcanic front of Costa Rica and Nica-
ragua (Fischer et al., 2002; Shaw et al., 2003; Elkins et al., 2006; Lucic et
al., 2014; Rizzo et al., 2016), which provided strong evidence of upper
mantle (8 ± 1 RM/RA; RM = ratio in the sample and RA ratio of air) contri-
butions to the Central America volcanism. Our results suggested that
these upper mantle wedge inputs covered a maximum contribution of
40% in the sloping (i.e. aquifers within the inter-mountainous topo-
graphic slopes) volcanic aquifers of Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
6. Conclusions
Hydrothermal systems of Nicaragua exhibited a notable departure
from meteoric conditions due to potential intense kinetic fractionation,
which is reflected in the consistent low d-excess and lc-excess values.
In Costa Rica, hydrothermal fluids are divided in two main groups: a) iso-
topically-close to meteoric conditions and b) isotopically-altered by the
interaction with recycled subduction fluids. In fact, using the threshold
of lc-excess equal 0, two clearly distinct regression lines can be distin-
guished for Costa Rica: a) δ2H = 7.97·δ18O + 12.2, which correspond
to meteoric conditions (Sánchez-Murillo et al., 2013) and b) δ2H =
4.65·δ18O − 15.0, with lc-excess values ranging from − 0.3‰ up to
−68.2‰ (e.g. Poás volcano crater). Greater rainfall inputs in Costa Rica
with respect to Nicaragua resulted in the partial attenuation of the evap-
orative effect, particularly within the Pacific slope. End-member mixing
calculations indicated a significant (p b 0.001) difference between the
mean ‘andesitic water’ contribution within the hydrothermal systems
of 15.3 ± 10.8 (%) and 19.7 ± 10.3 (%) for Nicaragua and Costa Rica,
181
respectively. Further validation of this stable isotope approach should in-
volve weekly to monthly sampling in hydrothermal fields including sur-
face water discharge and deep/shallow wells to better constrain the
temporal evolution of the isotopic ratios (both in rainfall and hydrother-
mal inputs) during the rainy and dry seasons, but most importantly, to
separate the effect of surface kinetic fractionation versus underground
evaporation and mixing with ‘pre-shifted’ recycled subduction fluids.
Lastly, the spatial and isotope-informed indicators presented may be
used to better understand the hydrothermal/volcanic activity as well as
providing new spatially-oriented insights of recycled fluids from the
Central America subduction zone.
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2017.08.013.
Acknowledgements
This project was supported by International Atomic Energy Agency
grants COS7005 (Ensuring Water Security and Sustainability of the Cen-
tral Valley of Costa Rica) and CRP-19747 to RSM under the initiative “Sta-
ble isotopes in precipitation and paleoclimatic archives in tropical areas
to improve regional hydrological and climatic impact models” and the
Research Office of the Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica through grants
SIA-0482-13, SIA-0378-14, and SIA-0101-14. The authors would also like
to thank the IsoNET initiative funded by the University of Costa Rica Re-
search Council and the recent sampling help from OVSICORI
(Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica) and Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (San José, Costa Rica). We also thank the Programme on
Water Resources of the International Atomic Energy Agency for granting
access to stable isotope archives of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. A complete
database is provided in the supplemental materials.
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