Identification of the contributing area to river discharge during low-flow periods

Gillet, Maxime; Salle, Corinne Le Gal La; Ayral, Pierre Alain; Khaska, Somar; Martin, Philippe; Verdoux, Patrick

doi:10.5194/hess-25-6261-2021

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 79 publications

(88 reference statements)

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“…Commonly, the number and identity of the water sources (end-members), whose contributions to stream flow are sought to be quantified, are known or determined based on previous knowledge of the catchment. The solutes, that differentiate those sources, are then selected in a second step (Durand and Juan Torres, 1996;Gillet et al, 2021;Ladouche et al, 2001). Alternatively, the variation in stream chemistry is used as the primary information and is subsequently used to estimate the potential end-members and their numbers (Barthold et al, 2017;Christophersen and Hooper, 1992;Hooper, 2003;James and Roulet, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

Brekenfeld,

Cotel,

Faucheux

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Stream water chemistry at catchment outlets is commonly used to infer the flow paths of water through the catchment and to quantify the relative contributions of various flow paths and/or end-members, especially during storm events. For this purpose, the number and nature of these flow paths or end-members are commonly determined with principal component analysis based on all available conservative solute data. Here, for a given pair of measured solutes, we propose a methodology to determine the minimum number of required end-members, based on the ion’s synchronous variation during storm events. This allows identifying solute pairs, for which a simple two end-member mixing model is sufficient to explain their variation during storm events and solute pairs, which show a more complex pattern, requiring a higher-order end-member mixing model. We analysed the concentration-concentration relationships of several major ion pairs on the storm-event scale, using multi-year, high-frequency (< 60 minutes) monitoring data from the outlet of two small (0.8 to 5 km²) French catchments with contrasting land-use, climate and geology. A large number of storm-events (56 to 92 %) could be interpreted as the result of the mixture of only two end-members, depending on the catchment and the ion pairs used. Even though some of these results could have been expected (e.g. a two-end-member model for the Na+/Cl- pair in a catchment close to the Atlantic coast), others were more surprising and in contrast to previous studies. These findings might help to revise or improve the perceptual catchment understanding of flow path or end-member contributions and of biogeochemical processes. In addition, this methodology can identify, which solute pairs are governed by identical hydro-biogeochemical processes and which solutes are modified by more complex and diverse processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

Brekenfeld,

Cotel,

Faucheux

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Variabilités spatiale et temporelle des débits et de la géochimie des cours d'eau cévenols du bassin versant des Gardons (Gard, France) : contribution à l'analyse des basses eaux

Gillet¹,

Ayral²,

Salle³

et al. 2021

physio-geo

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Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

Brekenfeld,

Cotel,

Faucheux

et al. 2024

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Stream water chemistry at catchment outlets is commonly used to infer flow paths of water through catchments and to quantify the relative contributions of various flow paths and/or end-members, especially during storm events. For this purpose, the number and nature of these flow paths or end-members are commonly determined with principal component analysis based on all available conservative solute data in inverse end-member mixing analyses (EMMAs). However, apart from the selection of conservative solutes, little attention is paid to the number and choice of the solutes that are included in the analysis, despite the impact this choice can have on the interpretation of the results from an inverse EMMA. Here, we propose a methodology that tries to fill this gap. For a given pair of measured solutes, the proposed methodology determines the minimum number of required end-members, based on the synchronous variation of the solutes during storm events. This allows identification of solute pairs for which a simple two-end-member mixing model is sufficient to explain their variation during storm events and of solute pairs, which show a more complex pattern requiring a higher-order end-member mixing model. We analyse the concentration–concentration relationships of several major ion pairs on the storm-event scale, using multi-year, high-frequency (< 60 min) monitoring data from the outlet of two small (0.8 to 5 km2) French catchments with contrasting land use, climate, and geology. A large number of storm events (56 % to 79 %) could be interpreted as being the result of a mixture of only two end-members, depending on the catchment and the ion pairs used. Even though some of these results could have been expected (e.g. a two-end-member model for the Na+/Cl- pair in a catchment close to the Atlantic coast), others were more surprising and in contrast to previous studies. These findings might help to revise or improve perceptual catchment understanding of flow path or end-member contributions and of biogeochemical processes. In addition, this methodology can identify which solute pairs are governed by identical hydro-biogeochemical processes and which solutes are modified by more complex and diverse processes.

show abstract

Identification of the contributing area to river discharge during low-flow periods

Cited by 3 publications

References 79 publications

Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

Variabilités spatiale et temporelle des débits et de la géochimie des cours d'eau cévenols du bassin versant des Gardons (Gard, France) : contribution à l'analyse des basses eaux

Using high-frequency solute synchronies to determine simple two-end-member mixing in catchments during storm events

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