Relationship of topography to surface water chemistry with particular focus on nitrogen and organic carbon solutes within a forested watershed in Hokkaido,Japan

We studied the relationships between streamwater chemistry and the topography of subcatchments in the Dorokawa watershed in Hokkaido Island, northern Japan, to examine the use of topography as a predictor of streamwater chemistry in a watershed with relatively moderate terrain compared with other regions of Japan. Topographic characteristics of the Dorokawa watershed and its subcatchments were expressed as topographic index (TI) values, which ranged from 4·5 to 20·4 for individual grid cells (50 × 50 m²), but averaged from 6·4 to 7·4 for the 20 subcatchments. Streamwater samples for chemical analyses were collected four times between June and October 2002 from 20 locations in the watershed. The pH of water that passed through the watershed increased from ～5·0 to 7·0, with major increases in Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ and marked decreases in NO₃^? and SO . Distinctive spatial patterns were observed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and NO₃^? concentrations of streamwater across the watershed. Statistical analyses indicated significant linear relationships between the average TI values of subcatchments and DOC, DON, and NO₃^? concentrations. Furthermore, the proportion of DOC in streamwaters in the wet season increased with TI values relative to other nitrogen species, whereas NO₃^? concentrations decreased with TI. The gradients of soil wetness and the presence of wetlands explained many of the observed spatial and temporal patterns of DOC, DON, and NO₃^? concentrations in the surface waters of the Dorokawa watershed. Our results suggest that the TI is especially useful for predicting the spatial distribution of DOC, DON and NO₃^? in the surface waters of Hokkaido, where topographical relief is moderate and wetlands more common than in other regions of Japan. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.