Constant denudation rates in a high alpine catchment for the last 6 kyrs

Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) have widely been used as proxies in determining denudation rates in catchments. Most studies were limited to samples from modern active streams, thus little is known about the magnitude and causes of TCN variability on millennial time scales. In this work we present a 6 kyrs long, high resolution record of ¹⁰Be concentrations (n = 18), which were measured in sediment cores from an alluvial fan delta at the outlet of the Fedoz Valley in the Swiss Alps. This record is paired with a 3‐year time series (n = 4) of ¹⁰Be measured in sediment from the active stream currently feeding this fan delta. The temporal trend in the ¹⁰Be concentrations after correction for postdepositional production of ¹⁰Be was found to be overall constant and in good agreement with the modern river ¹⁰Be concentration. The calculated mean catchment‐wide denudation rate amounts to 0.73 ± 0.18 mm yr^?1. This fairly constant level of ¹⁰Be concentrations can be caused by a constant denudation rate over time within the catchment or alternatively by a buffered signal. In this contribution we suggest that the large alluvial floodplain in the Fedoz Valley may act as an efficient buffer on Holocene time scales in which sediments with different ¹⁰Be signatures are mixed. Therefore, presumable variations in the ¹⁰Be signals derived from changes in denudation under a fluctuating Holocene climate are only poorly transferred to the catchment outlet and not recorded in the ¹⁰Be record. However, despite the absence of high frequency signals, we propose that the buffered and averaged ¹⁰Be signal could be meaningfully and faithfully interpreted in terms of long‐term catchment‐averaged denudation rate. Our study suggests that alluvial buffers play an important role in regulating the ¹⁰Be signal exported by some alpine settings that needs to be taken into account and further investigated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

POTASSIUM CHEMISTRY OF A SMALL UPLAND STREAM FOLLOWING A MAJOR DROUGHT

Previously unpublished water quality data are used to explore the potassium chemistry of a small upland stream following the 1976 drought in England. The behaviour of potassium is a complex response to several factors: hydrological pathways operating during periods of storm runoff; sediment inputs; and the chemical properties of the transporting water. Analyses of ‘hysteresis loops’ for a series of storms show that the relationship between suspended sediment and potassium concentrations is not simple; spatial and temporal variations in surface and subsurface stormflow add complexity. In addition to the specific discussion of potassium, data are presented to show the recovery of stream discharge, and of sediment and solute concentrations during the immediate post-drought period. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

MODELLING THE IMPACT OF LAND USE CHANGE ON WATER QUALITY IN AGRICULTURAL CATCHMENTS

Export coefficient modelling was used to model the impact of agriculture on nitrogen and phosphorus loading on the surface waters of two contrasting agricultural catchments. The model was originally developed for the Windrush catchment where the highly reactive Jurassic limestone aquifer underlying the catchment is well connected to the surface drainage network, allowing the system to be modelled using uniform export coefficients for each nutrient source in the catchment, regardless of proximity to the surface drainage network. In the Slapton catchment, the hydrological pathways are dominated by surface and lateral shallow subsurface flow, requiring modification of the export coefficient model to incorporate a distance–decay component in the export coefficients. The modified model was calibrated against observed total nitrogen and total phosphorus loads delivered to Slapton Ley from inflowing streams in its catchment. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to isolate the key controls on nutrient export in the modified model. The model was validated against long-term records of water quality, and was found to be accurate in its predictions and sensitive to both temporal and spatial changes in agricultural practice in the catchment. The model was then used to forecast the potential reduction in nutrient loading on Slapton Ley associated with a range of catchment management strategies. The best practicable environmental option (BPEO) was found to be spatial redistribution of high nutrient export risk sources to areas of the catchment with the greatest intrinsic nutrient retention capacity. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow dynamics at the continental scale: Streamflow correlation and hydrological similarity

Streamflow variability in space and time critically affects anthropic water uses and ecosystem services. Unfortunately, spatiotemporal patterns of flow regimes are often unknown, as discharge measurements are usually recorded at a limited number of hydrometric stations unevenly distributed along river networks. Advances in understanding the physical processes that control the spatial patterns of river flows are therefore necessary to predict water availability at ungauged locations or to extrapolate pointwise streamflow observations. This work explores the use of the spatial correlation of river flows as a metric to quantify the similarity between hydrological responses of two catchments. Following a stochastic framework, 340,000 cross‐correlations between pairs of daily streamflows time series are predicted at a seasonal timescale across the contiguous United States using 413 catchments of the MOPEX dataset. Model predictions of streamflow correlation obtained in absence of run‐off information are successfully used to identify catchment outlets sharing similar discharge dynamics and flow regimes across a broad range of geomorphoclimatic conditions, without relying on calibration. The selection of reference streamgauges based on predicted streamflow correlation generally outperforms the selection based on spatial proximity, especially as the density of available gauged sections decreases. Interestingly, correlated outlets share a broad spectrum of hydrological signatures (mean discharge, flow variability, and recession properties), suggesting that catchments forced by analogous frequency and intensity of effective rainfall events might exhibit common geomorphoecological traits leading to similar hydrological responses. The proposed framework provides a physical basis to assist the regionalization of flow dynamics and to interpret the spatial variability of flow regimes along stream networks.     

Simulated response of an intermittent stream to rainfall frequency patterns

The response of intermittent catchments to rainfall is complex and difficult to model. This study uses the spatially distributed CATchment HYdrology (CATHY) model to explore how the frequency of daily rainfall (λ) can affect the hydrologic regime of intermittent catchments. After a multi-objective calibration and validation of CATHY against experimental measurements of streamflow and groundwater levels in a catchment used as a pasture, the role of λ in affecting streamflow characteristics was explored using different scenarios. With different values of λ for the dry and wet periods of the year, CATHY showed that a series of frequent rainfall events was often associated with incipient streamflow, independent of the season. Activation of streamflow during the wet season was related to multiple factors and was not often associated with the shallow groundwater levels near the outlet of the catchment. The interplay between rainfall depth and intensity acted as the most important factor for the generation of streamflow. Using the difference between accumulated rainfall and evapotranspiration as a measure of wetness, saturated subsurface flow mechanism generated streamflow in simulations with wetness at least three times larger than mean wetness of other simulations. Although groundwater uprise near the outlet did not effectively contribute to streamflow in the initial days of flow, it strongly correlated with the magnitude of the runoff coefficient. Values of λ close or equal to the maximum value in the wet season can sustain the connectivity between groundwater and streamflow in the riparian zone. This connectivity increases the catchment wetness, which consequently results in an increase of the generated streamflow. Our study showed that rainfall regimes characterized by different λ were able to identify distinct flow regimes typical of either intermittent, ephemeral, or nonflowing catchments. Decrease of λ in the wet season is likely associated with a reduction of streamflow, with a shift of flow regime from intermittent to ephemeral or no-flow.     

Modelling the interaction of climate,forest ecosystem,and hydrology to estimate catchment dissolved organic carbon export

The potential for increased loads of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in streams and rivers is a concern for regulating the water quality in water supply watersheds. With increasing hydroclimatic variability related to global warming and shifts in forest ecosystem community and structure, understanding and predicting the magnitude and variability of watershed supply and transport of DOC over multiple time scales have become important research and management goals. In this study, we use a distributed process‐based ecohydrological model (Regional Hydro‐Ecological Simulation System [RHESSys]) to explore controls and predict streamflow DOC loads in Biscuit Brook. Biscuit Brook is a forested headwater catchment of the Neversink Reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system in the Catskill Mountains. Three different model structures of RHESSys were proposed to explore and evaluate hypotheses addressing how vegetation phenology and hydrologic connectivity between deep groundwater and riparian zones influence streamflow and DOC loads. Model results showed that incorporating dynamic phenology improved model agreement with measured streamflow in spring, summer, and fall and fall DOC concentration, compared with a static phenology. Additionally, the connectivity of deep groundwater flux through riparian zones with dynamic phenology improved streamflow and DOC flux in low flow conditions. Therefore, this study suggests the importance of inter‐annual vegetation phenology and the connectivity of deep groundwater drainage through riparian zones in the hydrology and stream DOC loading in this forested watershed and the ability of process‐based ecohydrological models to simulate these dynamics. The advantage of a process‐based modelling approach is specifically seen in the sensitivity to forest ecosystem dynamics and the interactions of hydroclimate variability with ecosystem processes controlling the supply and distribution of DOC. These models will be useful to evaluate different forest management approaches toward mitigating water quality concerns.     

Isotope hydrograph separation in alpine catchments: a review

Isotope hydrograph separation (IHS) is a basic tool in applied hydrology. Its application has expanded to surface water and groundwater interaction, and eco-hydrological processes from runoff generation processes. This paper reviews the progress made in IHS for alpine catchments, with emphasis on its significance in reflecting the impact of global change on water resources. Also, the principle of IHS and its uncertainties are explained in detail. The mechanism of variation of stable isotopes in snow-melt water is discussed, and then methods are presented to improve the separation during snow-melt such as volume weighted average method (VWA), current melt-water method (CMW) and runoff-corrected event water approach (RunCE), with their advantages and disadvantages explained. New approaches may extend the applications of IHS, for example, large basin studies combined with GIS, and develop new theories of runoff generation combined with other parameters such as deuterium excess and DOC     

地下水土有机污染MNA修复研究综述

监测自然衰减技术（MNA）是修复地下水土有机污染最经济和有效的方法之一。在自然衰减的评价中,美国主要是从3个方面的证据来揭示自然衰减的发生：污染物质量减少;表征生物降解的地球化学指标的变化;通过微生物降解菌研究为生物降解提供直接证据。本文总结了目前国际上获取自然衰减证据的主要方法：污染物浓度变化趋势统计法、污染物质量守恒和质量通量分析法、溶质运移的解析模型、溶质运移的数值模型、地球化学证据方法、稳定同位素方法和微生物菌群研究等方法。我国在自然衰减评价方面的研究较少。由于自然衰减修复时间较长、修复效率较低,在实际应用中,联合运用强化衰减修复技术和MNA技术成为地下水土治理的主要发展趋势。     

Sediment yield in the upper Krishna Basin,Maharashtra, India

A 235.5 km² headwater catchment of the Krishna River in the Deccan plateau lavas is dry for eight months of the year but receives intense monsoonal rains during four months. High initial suspended sediment concentrations fall as rapid vegetation growth provides increasing protection. During a six-year period annual suspended sediment yields from the deeply weathered kaolinitic soils ranged between 36.9 and 275.3 t km^?2 in dry and wet years respectively.     

A comparison of three approaches to spatial generalization of rainfall–runoff models

The generalization of the parameters of rainfall–runoff models, to enable application at ungauged sites, is an important and ongoing area of research. This paper compares the performance of three alternative methods of generalization, for two parameter‐sparse conceptual models (PDM and TATE), specifically for use in flood frequency estimation using continuous simulation. Two of the methods are based on fitting regression relationships between catchment properties and calibrated parameter values, using weighted or sequential regression (with weights based on estimates of calibration uncertainty), and the third is based on the use of pooling groups, defined through measures of site‐similarity based on catchment properties. The study uses a relatively large sample of catchments in Britain. For the PDM, the site‐similarity method performs best, but not greatly better than either regression method, so there may be cases where the use of regression would be preferable. For the TATE model, weighted regression performs best (with a very similar level of performance to that of the PDM with site‐similarity), whereas site‐similarity performs worst (due to poor performance for catchments with higher baseflow), indicating that the choice of model and generalization method should not be separated. The use of sequential regression, which was developed to try to allow for parameter interdependence, shows no clear advantage for either model. Other than the poor performance of the TATE model with site‐similarity for catchments with a higher baseflow index, there are no clear relationships between performance of any model/method and catchment type. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.