TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydrologic functioning of the deep critical zone and contributions to streamflow in a high-elevation catchment
T2 - Testing of multiple conceptual models
AU - Dwivedi, Ravindra
AU - Meixner, Thomas
AU - McIntosh, Jennifer C.
AU - Ferré, P. A.Ty
AU - Eastoe, Christopher J.
AU - Niu, Guo Yue
AU - Minor, Rebecca L.
AU - Barron-Gafford, Greg A.
AU - Chorover, Jon
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant EAR-1331408 in support of the Catalina-Jemez Critical Zone Observatory; student research grant from the Geological Society of America to RD; research grant from Water Resources Research Center, The University of Arizona, to T. M., T. F., and J. M. Furthermore, this research work is supported by the research and travel grants to the corresponding author from the Graduate and Professional Student Council at the University of Arizona. In terms of individual support, we would like to thank Mr. Michael Stanley, Manager, Mt. Lemmon Water District, Nathan S. Abramson, Matej Durcik, Mary Kay Amistadi, Alissa White, Tyler Rockhill, Andres Sanchez, Marisa Earll, and Nicole Weber. We would also like to thank Dr. F. Liu, Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Lincoln University, Missouri, for his EMMA method-related help. The corresponding author would like to thank Jessie Dwivedi for her editorial help and their children, Darcy and Noah Dwivedi, for their patience while she reviewed various versions of this work. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions that helped us improve the quality of this work. All the data sets used in our work are available publicly at http://criticalzone.org/catalina-jemez/data/datasets/.
Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Science Foundation Grant EAR‐1331408 in support of the Catalina‐Jemez Critical Zone Observatory; student research grant from the Geological Society of America to RD; research grant from Water Resources Research Center, The University of Arizona, to T. M., T. F., and J. M. Furthermore, this research work is supported by the research and travel grants to the corresponding author from the Graduate and Professional Student Council at the University of Arizona. In terms of individual support, we would like to thank Mr. Michael Stanley, Manager, Mt. Lemmon Water District, Nathan S. Abramson, Matej Durcik, Mary Kay Amistadi, Alissa White, Tyler Rockhill, Andres Sanchez, Marisa Earll, and Nicole Weber. We would also like to thank Dr. F. Liu, Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Lincoln University, Missouri, for his EMMA method‐related help. The corresponding author would like to thank Jessie Dwivedi for her editorial help and their children, Darcy and Noah Dwivedi, for their patience while she reviewed various versions of this work. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions that helped us improve the quality of this work. All the data sets used in our work are available publicly at http://criticalzone.org/catalina‐jemez/data/datasets/.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2019/2/15
Y1 - 2019/2/15
N2 - High-elevation mountain catchments are often subject to large climatic and topographic gradients. Therefore, high-density hydrogeochemical observations are needed to understand water sources to streamflow and the temporal and spatial behaviour of flow paths. These sources and flow paths vary seasonally, which dictates short-term storage and the flux of water in the critical zone (CZ) and affect long-term CZ evolution. This study utilizes multiyear observations of chemical compositions and water residence times from the Santa Catalina Mountains Critical Zone Observatory, Tucson, Arizona to develop and evaluate competing conceptual models of seasonal streamflow generation. These models were tested using endmember mixing analysis, baseflow recession analysis, and tritium model “ages” of various catchment water sources. A conceptual model involving four endmembers (precipitation, soil water, shallow, and deep groundwater) provided the best match to observations. On average, precipitation contributes 39–69% (55 ± 16%), soil water contributes 25–56% (41 ± 16%), shallow groundwater contributes 1–5% (3 ± 2%), and deep groundwater contributes ~0–3% (1 ± 1%) towards annual streamflow. The mixing space comprised two principal planes formed by (a) precipitation-soil water-deep groundwater (dry and summer monsoon season samples) and (b) precipitation-soil water-shallow groundwater (winter season samples). Groundwater contribution was most important during the wet winter season. During periods of high dynamic groundwater storage and increased hydrologic connectivity (i.e., spring snowmelt), stream water was more geochemically heterogeneous, that is, geochemical heterogeneity of stream water is storage-dependent. Endmember mixing analysis and 3 H model age results indicate that only 1.4 ± 0.3% of the long-term annual precipitation becomes deep CZ groundwater flux that influences long-term deep CZ development through both intercatchment and intracatchment deep groundwater flows.
AB - High-elevation mountain catchments are often subject to large climatic and topographic gradients. Therefore, high-density hydrogeochemical observations are needed to understand water sources to streamflow and the temporal and spatial behaviour of flow paths. These sources and flow paths vary seasonally, which dictates short-term storage and the flux of water in the critical zone (CZ) and affect long-term CZ evolution. This study utilizes multiyear observations of chemical compositions and water residence times from the Santa Catalina Mountains Critical Zone Observatory, Tucson, Arizona to develop and evaluate competing conceptual models of seasonal streamflow generation. These models were tested using endmember mixing analysis, baseflow recession analysis, and tritium model “ages” of various catchment water sources. A conceptual model involving four endmembers (precipitation, soil water, shallow, and deep groundwater) provided the best match to observations. On average, precipitation contributes 39–69% (55 ± 16%), soil water contributes 25–56% (41 ± 16%), shallow groundwater contributes 1–5% (3 ± 2%), and deep groundwater contributes ~0–3% (1 ± 1%) towards annual streamflow. The mixing space comprised two principal planes formed by (a) precipitation-soil water-deep groundwater (dry and summer monsoon season samples) and (b) precipitation-soil water-shallow groundwater (winter season samples). Groundwater contribution was most important during the wet winter season. During periods of high dynamic groundwater storage and increased hydrologic connectivity (i.e., spring snowmelt), stream water was more geochemically heterogeneous, that is, geochemical heterogeneity of stream water is storage-dependent. Endmember mixing analysis and 3 H model age results indicate that only 1.4 ± 0.3% of the long-term annual precipitation becomes deep CZ groundwater flux that influences long-term deep CZ development through both intercatchment and intracatchment deep groundwater flows.
KW - conceptual models
KW - critical zone
KW - dynamic storage
KW - endmember mixing analysis
KW - tritium model ages
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U2 - 10.1002/hyp.13363
DO - 10.1002/hyp.13363
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85060210458
SN - 0885-6087
VL - 33
SP - 476
EP - 494
JO - Hydrological Processes
JF - Hydrological Processes
IS - 4
ER -