Controls on runoff components on a forested slope and implications for N transport

Transfer of atmospheric N deposition on shallow‐soil forested basins on the Canadian Shield to receiving water bodies may be enhanced by rapid preferential flow along the soil–bedrock interface (BR runoff) on basin slopes. Controls on BR runoff, partitioning of event and pre‐event water contributions to this flow, and implications of this partitioning for N fluxes in BR runoff were studied under natural and artificial inputs to an instrumented slope. BR runoff as a fraction of water inputs to the slope increased with antecedent soil wetness and input depth. Event water contributions to BR runoff initially increased with antecedent soil wetness, but then declined at large antecedent soil wetness. Export of applied NH₄⁺ from the slope was maximized when event water contributions containing large NH₄⁺ concentrations dominated BR runoff; however, there was no relationship between the fraction of NO₃^? application transported in BR runoff and either application input or the event water fraction of that runoff. The applicability of our results to other shallow‐soil areas of the Canadian Shield is limited by artificial N inputs to the slope in excess of natural loads and by low rates of N mineralization and negligible nitrification in the slope's soils. Nevertheless, the study reinforces the need to consider how the hydrologic, geometric and pedologic properties of forest slopes interact with biotic and abiotic soil processes to control N transport and transformation. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.