Catchment-scale non-linear groundwater-surface water interactions in densely drained lowland catchments

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Abstract

Freely discharging lowland catchments are characterized by a strongly seasonal contracting and expanding system of discharging streams and ditches. Due to this rapidly changing active channel network, discharge and solute transport cannot be modeled by a single characteristic travel path, travel time distribution, unit hydrograph, or linear reservoir. We propose a systematic spatial averaging approach to derive catchment-scale storage and discharge from point-scale water balances. The effects of spatial heterogeneity in soil properties, vegetation, and drainage network are lumped and described by a relation between groundwater storage and the spatial probability distribution of groundwater depths with measurable parameters. The model describes how, in lowland catchments, the catchment-scale flux from groundwater to surface water via various flow routes is affected by a changing active channel network, the unsaturated zone and surface ponding. We used observations of groundwater levels and catchment discharge of a 6.6 km2 Dutch watershed in combination with a high-resolution spatially distributed hydrological model to test the model approach. Good results were obtained when modeling hourly discharges for a period of eight years. The validity of the underlying assumptions still needs to be tested under different conditions and for catchments of various sizes. Nevertheless, at this stage the model can already improve monitoring efficiency of groundwater-surface water interactions.

Figures

  • Fig. 1. Vertical cross-section of the Hupsel brook catchment in The Netherlands (see the main text for details). The surface elevation and the elevation of the impermeable thick clay layer are indicated, as well as the water levels of the brook that drains the catchment and of the ditches that discharge into the streams. Many of the fields in the catchment have tube drains, which are also indicated. Calculated groundwater levels on a wet (5 February 2001) and a dry day (8 July 1994) are also given.
  • Fig. 2. The water balance model describes fluxes at the point-scale. This figure illustrates three locations (x1,y1), (x2,y2) and (x3,y3) within a cross section of a typical lowland field. The groundwater level at location (x1,y1) is above soil surface, which leads to ponding. Note that when the groundwater level is above soil surface there is no unsaturated zone. Infiltrating water from the pond into the saturated zone is denoted qinf . Exfiltrating water from the saturated groundwater into the pond is denoted qex . A sink is denoted o and the lateral overland flow lsurf . Location (x2,y2) has an unsaturated zone and consequently no surface storage. The flux from the unsaturated zone to the saturated zone is denoted jrch and the capillary flux from saturated to unsaturated zone jcap . This location is also tube-drained with a tube drain flux qdr . Note that surface storage and tube drainage can occur at the same location. Point (x3,y3) is located at a stream. Above the stream bed surface storage occurs. The exfiltrating, infiltrating, and lateral surface fluxes are treated the same way for a ponded location (x1,y1) and a stream/ditch location(x3,y3). Rainfall, p, evapotranspiration, eact , and lateral saturated groundwater fluxes, lsat , occur in all three locations.
  • Fig. 3. Pictures of the Hupsel brook catchment. (a) and (b), and (c) and (d) show the typical change in surface water level during a dry and a wet period resulting in changes in unsaturated zone thickness variation. (e) shows the large scale ponding that occurs during wet periods, and the resulting overland flow is shown in (f).
  • Fig. 4. Hupsel Brook catchment with the main hydrologically relevant features.
  • Fig. 5. Field site with wells (piezometers) to measure groundwater levels.
  • Table 1. Calibration ranges and calibrated values for the model parameters (symbols explained in the main text).
  • Fig. 6. Observed daily groundwater levels at the weather station against Modflow calculations for the same location (2922 days).
  • Fig. 7. Observed daily totals of catchment discharge against daily Modflow calculations (2922 days).

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CITATION STYLE

APA

Van Der Velde, Y., De Rooij, G. H., & Torfs, P. J. J. F. (2009). Catchment-scale non-linear groundwater-surface water interactions in densely drained lowland catchments. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 13(10), 1867–1885. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-1867-2009

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