Investigating groundwater flow paths within proglacial moraine using multiple geophysical methods

McClymont, Alastair; Roy, James W.; Hayashi, Masaki; Bentley, L. R.; Maurer, Hansruedi; Langston, Greg

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.12.036

Cited by 65 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One reason might be that the bedrock topography does not necessarily coincide with the surface topography. Subsurface water storage areas cannot be easily derived from surficial and geological data (e.g., McClymont et al, ; Muir et al, ) although previous studies found that it is possible to some extent to determine contributions to stream discharge based on topography (e.g., Anderson & Burt, ). Other reasons might be significant inflows from bedrock exfiltration (Holbrook et al, ; Huff, O'Neill, Emanuel, Elwood, & Newbold, ) or because changes in streamflow occur due to a combination of both losses and gains (Covino, McGlynn, & Mallard, ; Mallard, McGlynn, & Covino, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio‐temporal variability in contributions to low flows in the high Alpine Poschiavino catchment

Floriancic

Meerveld

Smoorenburg

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to predict streamflow accurately during extended dry periods, we need to understand the spatial variability of low flows and the extent to which it is affected by the spatial organization and drainage of catchment subsurface storage areas. This is especially true in Alpine catchments with widely varying topography, lithology, sediment deposits, and soil properties. Field measurements in the Poschiavino catchment in southern Switzerland, during a winter recession period without recharge, provided a unique opportunity to demonstrate the connections between subsurface storage areas, low flows, and their variability. We measured discharge in four nested sub‐catchments during seven field campaigns in the winter of 2013–2014. We analysed stream water electrical conductivity (EC) and water chemistry to identify the areas contributing to low‐flow discharge and estimated their contributions. Sediment cover type and thickness were mapped using a recently developed tool for geomorphology‐based storage classification of mountainous terrain, to determine the physical properties of the subsurface storage areas contributing to low‐flow discharge. Recession analyses combined with water chemistry data allowed the detection of different drainage timescales and the estimation of storage potential of the unconsolidated (Quaternary) deposits. We found substantial spatial variation in storage depletion between the sub‐catchments, ranging from 54 mm to 200 mm for the four‐month monitoring period. Variability in low‐flow contributions from different catchments and different recession behavior could be related to the differences in the estimated storage potential. For some point sources, we could quantify the contributing area and thus quantify low flows at the hillslope scale. Overall, the low‐flow variability is mostly related to the fraction of precipitation that recharges subsurface storage areas and to the properties influencing their drainage. To capture these processes, we suggest low‐flow geomorphological mapping approaches that consider not only morphometric (shape of the landscape) and geologic (properties of the bedrock) controls but also the water storage potential of debris cover and weathered rock.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatio‐temporal variability in contributions to low flows in the high Alpine Poschiavino catchment

Floriancic

Meerveld

Smoorenburg

et al. 2018

Hydrological Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T Langston et al, 2011;McClymont et al, 2011) and rock glaciers (Maurer and Hauck, 2007;Ribolini et al, 2010;Monnier et al, 2011Monnier et al, , 2013Monnier et al, , 2014Onaca et al, 2013, Seppi et al, 2015. Both ice-cored moraines and rock glaciers can be considered as composite and transitional landforms as relicts from former glaciation (cf.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term geomorphological evolution of proglacial systems

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Proglacial systems are amongst the most rapidly changing landscapes on Earth, as glacier mass loss, permafrost degradation and more episodes of intense rainfall progress with climate change. This review addresses the urgent need to quantitatively define proglacial systems not only in terms of spatial extent but also in terms of functional processes. It firstly provides a critical appraisal of prevailing conceptual models of proglacial systems, and uses this to justify compiling data on rates of landform change in terms of planform, horizontal motion, elevation changes and sediment budgets. These data permit us to produce novel summary conceptual diagrams that consider proglacial landscape evolution in terms of a balance of longitudinal and lateral water and sediment fluxes. Throughout, we give examples of newly emerging datasets and data processing methods because these have the potential to assist with the issues of: (i) a lack of knowledge of proglacial systems within high-mountain, arctic and polar regions, (ii) considerable inter-and intracatchment variability in the geomorphology and functioning of proglacial systems, (iii) problems with the magnitude of short-term geomorphological changes being at the threshold of detection, (iv) separating short-term variability from longer-term trends, and (v) of the representativeness of plot-scale field measurements for regionalisation and for upscaling. We consider that understanding of future climate change effects on proglacial systems requires holistic process-based modelling to explicitly consider feedbacks and linkages, especially between hillslope and valley-floor components.Such modelling must be informed by a new generation of repeated distributed topographic surveys to detect and quantify short-term geomorphological changes.

show abstract

“…At a more detailed scale, Caballero et al (2002) investigated the hydrologic behavior of talus slopes and lateral moraines using salt tracer breakthrough curves in the Cordillera Real, Bolivia. A series of studies (Hood et al, 2006;Langston et al, 2011;McClymont et al, 2010McClymont et al, , 2011Muir et al, 2011;Roy and Hayashi, 2009) have used a variety of geophysical and more traditional hydrologic techniques to investigate groundwater storage and interactions among a number of alpine geomorphic units including proglacial lakes, moraines, talus slopes, springs, and a small meadow, all in a single watershed in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. McClymont et al (2010) estimated the storage and residence time of a talus slopemeadow complex, suggesting future studies should investigate different types of alpine meadow complexes and their impacts on watershed runoff and water quality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources and pathways of stream generation in tropical proglacial valleys of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Gordon

Lautz

McKenzie

et al. 2015

Journal of Hydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Investigating groundwater flow paths within proglacial moraine using multiple geophysical methods

Cited by 65 publications

References 35 publications

Spatio‐temporal variability in contributions to low flows in the high Alpine Poschiavino catchment

Spatio‐temporal variability in contributions to low flows in the high Alpine Poschiavino catchment

Short-term geomorphological evolution of proglacial systems

Sources and pathways of stream generation in tropical proglacial valleys of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About