Runoff processes, stream water residence times and controlling landscape characteristics in a mesoscale catchment: An initial evaluation

Soulsby, Christopher; Tetzlaff, Doerthe; Rodgers, P.; Dunn, Sarah; Waldron, Susan

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.10.024

Cited by 246 publications

(274 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…For example, there is likely a decrease in hydraulic conductivity with depth in the wetlands. As such, subsurface water may not infiltrate through to a depth of 30 cm before flowing laterally as these soils and landscape positions tend to be rather hydrologically reactive (Soulsby et al, 2006b). It is possible that the actual effect of the lack of a wetland soil ice layer may be less than that predicted via our simple thought experiment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Taken together, it can be seen that these landscape and topographic factors are related (Buttle, 2006;Tetzlaff et al, 2009b). That is, wetlands with responsive soils Soulsby et al, 2006b) and/or near-surface impervious ice layers during snowmelt co-evolve with landscape positions with lower gradients. This is conceptually similar to relationships found between aspect and evolution of transit times in several small, mountainous catchments by Broxton et al (2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

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Controls on snowmelt water mean transit times in northern boreal catchments

Lyon

Laudon

Seibert

et al. 2010

Hydrological Processes

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Abstract:Catchment-scale transit times for water are increasingly being recognized as an important control on geochemical processes. In this study, snowmelt water mean transit times (MTTs) were estimated for the 15 Krycklan research catchments in northern boreal Sweden. The snowmelt water MTTs were assumed to be representative of the catchment-scale hydrologic response during the spring thaw period and, as such, may be considered to be a component of the catchment's overall MTT. These snowmelt water MTTs were empirically related to catchment characteristics and landscape structure represented by using different indices of soil cover, topography and catchment similarity. Mire wetlands were shown to be significantly correlated to snowmelt MTTs for the studied catchments. In these wetlands, shallow ice layers form that have been shown to serve as impervious boundaries to vertical infiltration during snowmelt periods and, thus, alter the flow pathways of water in the landscape. Using a simple thought experiment, we could estimate the potential effect of thawing of ice layers on snowmelt hydrologic response using the empirical relationship between landscape structure (represented using a catchment-scale Pe number) and hydrologic response. The result of this thought experiment was that there could be a potential increase of 20-45% in catchment snowmelt water MTTs for the Krycklan experimental catchments. It is therefore possible that climatic changes present competing influences on the hydrologic response of northern boreal catchments that need to be considered. For example, MTTs may tend to decrease during some times of the year due to an acceleration in the hydrologic cycle, while they tend to increase MTTs during other times of the year due to shifts in hydrologic flow pathways. The balance between the competing influences on a catchment's MTT has consequences on climatic feedbacks as it could influence hydrological and biogeochemical cycles at the catchment scale for northern latitude boreal catchments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Controls on snowmelt water mean transit times in northern boreal catchments

Lyon

Laudon

Seibert

et al. 2010

Hydrological Processes

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“…Current perception is that the E horizon is a soil that responds to saturation excess, which is dominated by slower vertical drainage to the underlying soil horizon/bedrock interface or water table (Soulsby et al, 1997;. A "responsive" soil promotes rapid hydrological responses to precipitation in stream flow via overland flow or shallow subsurface storm flow (Soulsby et al, 2006). The latter is also referred to as near surface macro pore flow.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Processes generating runoff are strongly influenced by the physical characteristics of the catchment, and not only by the soil in question (Soulsby, et al, 2006). Water movement, saturation and processes related to redox, leaching and ferrolysis are therefore not restricted to soil alone; the processes also occur in the saprolite and fractured rocks underlying soils (Neal et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Redox conditions related to interflow in a soil of the Kroonstad form in the Weatherley catchment

Jennings

Roux

Huyssteen

et al. 2008

South African Journal of Plant and Soil

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The Kroonstad soil form, in the Weatherley catchment, Eastern Cape Province consists of an orthic A / E / G horizon sequence, and is a typical gleyed soil of South Africa. The profile has an uncommon diffuse E / G transition. Water contents from weekly neutron water meter readings and redox response as indicated by dissolved Fe 2+ concentration were correlated with daily rainfall data from automated weather stations. Results showed that reducing conditions were more pronounced in the E horizon than in the orthic A or G horizon as indicated by the Fe 2+ concentration. This is contradictory to what is normally expected. Response in soluble iron concentration in the orthic A horizon was largely associated with rainfall events. Responses in the E horizon could not be linked to current rain events. A time lag was found to exist between a response in the A and the E horizon. The G horizon responded to seasonal changes. The inability to relate current rainfall events to redox conditions as indicated by soluble Fe 2+ response in the E horizon could be attributed to water entering the E horizon laterally through interflow. This would also explain the observed time lag. This is typical of perched water tables. The lack of response in the G-horizon is an indication of a year round flow pattern controlled by seasonal changes and is typical of phreatic water tables. It is postulated that the non-abrupt E / G transition is an indication of the dominant role of the phreatic water table during pedogenesis, with upwards and lateral movement of water into the E horizon. It is further postulated that the nature of the E / G transition could serve as a valuable criterion to distinguish between the wetter and drier soils of the Kroonstad form.

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Separating physical and meteorological controls of variable transit times in zero‐order catchments

Heidbüchel

Troch

Lyon

2013

Water Resources Research

112

152

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[1] We observed water fluxes and isotopic compositions within the subsurface of six small nested zero-order catchments over the course of three North American monsoon seasons and found that mean transit times (mTTs) were variable between seasons and different spatial patterns of mTTs emerged each year. For each monsoon season, it was possible to correlate mTTs with a different physical catchment property. In 2007, mTTs correlated best with mean soil depth, in 2008 soil hydraulic conductivity gained importance in explaining the variability and in 2009 planform curvature showed the best correlation. Differences in meteorological forcing between the three monsoon seasons explained the temporal variability of mTTs. In 2007, a series of precipitation events caused the storage capacity of the soils of some of the zero-order catchments to be exceeded. As a result those catchments started producing quick runoff (overland and macropore flow). In 2008, precipitation events were more evenly distributed throughout the season, soils did not saturate, runoff coefficients decreased because more water left the catchment via evapotranspiration and soil hydraulic conductivity became a stronger control since matrix flow dominated. The 2009 monsoon was unusually dry, the soil storage became depleted and water flowed mainly through bedrock pathways. Therefore, topographic parameters gained importance in determining how quickly water arrived at the catchment outlet. In order to improve our understanding of what controls mTTs we suggest a dimensionless number that helps identifying partitioning thresholds and sorts precipitation events into one of the three response modes that were observed in our zero-order catchments.

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Runoff processes, stream water residence times and controlling landscape characteristics in a mesoscale catchment: An initial evaluation

Cited by 246 publications

References 68 publications

Controls on snowmelt water mean transit times in northern boreal catchments

Controls on snowmelt water mean transit times in northern boreal catchments

Redox conditions related to interflow in a soil of the Kroonstad form in the Weatherley catchment

Separating physical and meteorological controls of variable transit times in zero‐order catchments

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