Are headwaters just the sum of hillslopes?

Uchida, Tatsuo; Asano, Yuko; Onda, Yuichi; Miyata, Sumiko

doi:10.1002/hyp.6004

Cited by 79 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Our findings confirmed the statement of Keller et al (1989) who postulated that baseflow originates from deep percolating water from springs based on sampling at the catchment outlet. Uchida et al (2005) made similar observations in steep, homogeneous and forested headwaters in Japan. Inamdar et al (2013) found from changes in hydrochemistry that during seasonal drying over the summer (in dry conditions), portions of the drainage network were disconnected and did not contribute to streamflow.…”

Section: Wider Implications On Pre-alpine Baseflowsupporting

confidence: 61%

Contributing sources to baseflow in pre‐alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling

Fischer

Rinderer

Schneider

et al. 2015

Hydrological Processes

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Mountainous headwaters consist of different landscape units including forests, meadows and wetlands. In these headwaters it is unclear which landscape units contribute what percentage to baseflow. In this study, we analysed spatiotemporal differences in baseflow isotope and hydrochemistry to identify catchment-scale runoff contribution. Three baseflow snapshot sampling campaigns were performed in the Swiss pre-alpine headwater catchment of the Zwäckentobel (4.25km2) and six of its adjacent subcatchments. The spatial and temporal variability of 2H, Ca, DOC, AT, pH, SO4, Mg and H4SiO4 of streamflow, groundwater and spring water samples was analysed and related to catchment area and wetland percentage using bivariate and multivariate methods. Our study found that in the six subcatchments, with variable arrangements of landscape units, the inter-and intra catchment variability of isotopic and hydrochemical compositions was small and generally not significant. Stream samples were distinctly different from shallow groundwater. An upper spring zone located near the water divide above 1,400 m and a larger wetland were identified by their distinct spatial isotopic and hydrochemical composition. The upstream wetland percentage was not correlated to the hydrochemical streamflow composition, suggesting that wetlands were less connected and act as passive features with a negligible contribution to baseflow runoff. The isotopic and hydrochemical composition of baseflow changed slightly from the upper spring zone towards the subcatchment outlets and corresponded to the signature of deep groundwater. Our results confirm the need and benefits of spatially distributed snapshot sampling to derive process understanding of heterogeneous headwaters during baseflow. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10529Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-111985 Accepted Version Originally published at: Fischer, Benjamin M C; Rinderer, Michael; Schneider, Philipp; Ewen, Tracy; Seibert, Jan (2015). Contributing sources to baseflow in pre-alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling. Hydrological Processes, 29(26):5321-5336. DOI: https://doi.org/10. 1002/hyp.10529 This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/hyp.10529 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Contributing sources to baseflow in pre-alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling ABSTRACTMountainous headwaters consist of different landscape units including forests, meadows and wetlands. In these headwaters it is unclear which landscape units contribute what percentage to baseflow. In this study, we analysed spatiotemporal differences in baseflow isotope and hydrochemistry to identify catchment-scale runoff contribution. Three baseflow s...

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Section: Wider Implications On Pre-alpine Baseflowsupporting

confidence: 61%

Contributing sources to baseflow in pre‐alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling

Fischer

Rinderer

Schneider

et al. 2015

Hydrological Processes

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“…Several studies have documented structured trends in stream chemistry that become apparent as basin scale increases [Wolock et al, 1997;Shaman et al, 2004;Temnerud and Bishop, 2005;Uchida et al, 2005]. Since this behavior seems to be a common occurrence, streamflow chemistry may be particularly useful in linking process understanding across multiple scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Streamflow generation in a large, alpine watershed in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado: Is streamflow generation simply the aggregation of hillslope runoff responses?

Frisbee

Phillips

Campbell

et al. 2011

Water Resources Research

116

145

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[1] Spatial and temporal trends in stream chemistry were investigated in a large (1600 km 2 ) alpine watershed in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado to help understand mechanisms of streamflow generation. We observed linear increases of concentrations of chemical constituents in streamflow as accumulated drainage area increased along the main channel of Saguache Creek. We tested two conceptual models of streamflow generation against our stream chemistry observations. One model is essentially two-dimensional and treats streamflow generation at the large watershed scale as the aggregation of runoff responses from individual hillslopes, primarily surface and shallow subsurface flow paths. Alternatively, a fully three-dimensional conceptual model treats streamflow generation as being controlled by a distribution of large-scale groundwater flow paths as well as surface and shallow subsurface flow paths. The structure and magnitude of groundwater contributions in streamflow as a function of increasing scale provided a key distinction between these two conceptual models. End-member mixing analysis and measurements of hydraulic head gradients in streambeds were used to quantify basin-scale groundwater contributions to streamflow with increasing spatial scale in the Saguache Creek watershed. Our data show that groundwater contributions are important in streamflow generation at all scales and, more importantly, that groundwater contributions to streamflow do increase with increasing watershed scale. These results favor the three-dimensional conceptual model in which long groundwater flow paths provide a streamflow generation process at large scales that is not operative at smaller scales. This finding indicates that large watersheds may be more than simply the aggregation of hillslopes and small catchments.

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“…Much experimental work on understanding hydrological processes has been done in temperate, humid climates using either single or multi-method approaches (e.g. Uchida et al, 2005;Blume et al, 2008;Uhlenbrook et al, 2002Uhlenbrook et al, , 2008. However, experimental hydrology and processrelevant studies in the predominantly data scarce semi-arid regions of SSA or Central Asia are, due to mostly logistical and financial constraints, less widespread (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the value of combined event runoff and tracer analysis to improve understanding of catchment functioning in a data-scarce semi-arid area

Hrachowitz

Bohte

Mul

et al. 2011

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Hydrological processes in small catchments are not quite understood yet, which is true in particular for catchments in data scarce, semi-arid regions. This is in contrast with the need for a better understanding of water fluxes and the interactions between surface-and groundwater in order to facilitate sustainable water resources management in such environments, where both floods and droughts can result in severe crop loss. In this study, event runoff coefficient analysis and limited tracer data of four small, nested sub-catchments (0.4-25.3 km 2 ) in a data scarce, semi-arid region of Tanzania helped to characterize the distinct response of the study catchments and to gain insights into the dominant runoff processes. The estimated event runoff coefficients were very low and did not exceed 0.09. They were found to be significantly related to the 5-day antecedent precipitation totals as well as to base flow, indicating a close relation to changes in soil moisture and thus potential switches in runoff generation processes. The time scales of the "direct flow" reservoirs, used to compute the event runoff coefficients, were up to one order of magnitude reduced for extreme events, compared to "average" events, suggesting the activation of at least a third flow component, besides base-and direct flow, assumed to be infiltration overland flow. Analysis of multiple tracers highlighted the importance of pre-event water to total runoff, even during intense and Correspondence to: M. Hrachowitz (m.hrachowitz@tudelft.nl) high yield precipitation events. It further illustrated the distinct nature of the catchments, in particular with respect to the available water storage, which was suggested by different degrees of tracer damping in the individual streams. The use of multiple tracers subsequently allowed estimating uncertainties in hydrograph separations arising from the use of different tracers. The results highlight the presence of considerable uncertainties, emphasizing the need for multiple tracers in order to avoid misleading results. This study shows the value of hydrological data collection over one whole wet season using multi-tracers to improve the understanding of hydrological functioning and thus for water resources management in data scarce, semi-arid environments.

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Are headwaters just the sum of hillslopes?

Cited by 79 publications

References 33 publications

Contributing sources to baseflow in pre‐alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling

Contributing sources to baseflow in pre‐alpine headwaters using spatial snapshot sampling

Streamflow generation in a large, alpine watershed in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado: Is streamflow generation simply the aggregation of hillslope runoff responses?

On the value of combined event runoff and tracer analysis to improve understanding of catchment functioning in a data-scarce semi-arid area

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