Streamflow and Nutrients from a Karst Watershed with a Downstream Embayment: Chapel Branch Creek

Williams, Thomas M.; Amatya, Devendra M.; Hitchcock, Daniel R.; Edwards, Amy E.

doi:10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0000794

Cited by 10 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Reliable and sustainable water yield from watersheds in the Southeastern Coastal Plain has become an area of concern in recent years because of changing population growth, land use, and potential climate change. To address this concern, there is a need for a reliable understanding of hydrologic processes and water balance of less disturbed, forested watersheds on low-gradient Coastal Plain (LCP) lands [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This reference water balance could be used to quantify the mag-difficulty in accurately estimating the watershed drainage area used in depth-based runoff.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of LiDAR Data for Hydrologic Assessments of Low-Gradient Coastal Watershed Drainage Characteristics

Amatya¹,

Trettin²,

Panda³

et al. 2013

JGIS

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Documenting the recovery of hydrologic functions following perturbations of a landscape/watershed is important to address issues associated with land use change and ecosystem restoration. High resolution LiDAR data for the USDA Forest Service Santee Experimental Forest in coastal South Carolina, USA was used to delineate the remnant historical water management structures within the watersheds supporting bottomland hardwood forests that are typical of the region. Hydrologic functions were altered during the early 1700's agricultural use period for rice cultivation, with changes to detention storage, impoundments, and runoff routing. Since late 1800's, the land was left to revert to forests, without direct intervention. The resultant bottomlands, while typical in terms of vegetative structure and composition, still have altered hydrologic pathways and functions due to the historical land use. Furthermore, an accurate estimate of the watershed drainage area (DA) contributing to stream flow is critical for reliable estimates of peak flow rate, runoff depth and coefficient, as well as water and chemical balance. Peak flow rate, a parameter widely used in design of channels and cross drainage structures, is calculated as a function of the DA and other parameters. However, in contrast with the upland watersheds, currently available topographic maps and digital elevation models (DEMs) used to estimate the DA are not adequate for flat, low-gradient Coastal Plain (LCP) landscape. In this paper we explore a case study of a 3 rd order watershed (equivalent to 14-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC)) at headwaters of east branch of Cooper River draining to Charleston Harbor, SC to assess the drainage area and corresponding mean annual runoff coefficient based on various DEMs including LiDAR data. These analyses demonstrate a need for application of LiDAR-based DEMs together with field verification to improve the basis for assessments of hydrology, watershed drainage characteristics, and modeling in the LCP.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of LiDAR Data for Hydrologic Assessments of Low-Gradient Coastal Watershed Drainage Characteristics

Amatya¹,

Trettin²,

Panda³

et al. 2013

JGIS

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“…Loads at various intervals were summed to obtain the monthly and annual loads. Details of water quality sampling, laboratory analysis, flow measurement, and load calculation methods are described in [7,8].…”

Section: Water Quality Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both the monitoring and modeling approaches provided a better understanding of the hydrologic and nutrient cycling and transport (flow pathways) processes on the watershed of interest. Potential effects of karst features and interactions with Lake Marion level on hydrology and potential flow paths of the CBC watershed have been recently discussed by [8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, in the Opequon Creek watershed study, [26] found that a SWAT-Karst model that used the HRU to represent sinkholes had a more notable impact in the watershed hydrology than SWAT-B&B using a pond to represent sinkholes; the author reported that the SWAT-karst and the SWAT-B&B version performed better than the SWAT alone for predicting streamflow in a karst-influenced watershed. Most recently, [27] used the SWAT model to simulate the monthly streamflow pattern and dynamics of the karst affected CBC watershed tributaries and its embayment adjacent to Lake Marion, water levels of which dynamically influence the hydrology and water quality of the CBC system [8,9]. Results demonstrated the substantial influence on the water balance of the karst features with conduit and diffuse flow as an explanation [9] for the missing upstream flows appearing via subsurface conveyance to the downstream cave spring [8] providing a more accurate simulation at the embayment outlet [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most recently, [27] used the SWAT model to simulate the monthly streamflow pattern and dynamics of the karst affected CBC watershed tributaries and its embayment adjacent to Lake Marion, water levels of which dynamically influence the hydrology and water quality of the CBC system [8,9]. Results demonstrated the substantial influence on the water balance of the karst features with conduit and diffuse flow as an explanation [9] for the missing upstream flows appearing via subsurface conveyance to the downstream cave spring [8] providing a more accurate simulation at the embayment outlet [27]. Results also highlighted influences of downstream lake levels and karst voids/conduits on the watershed hydrologic balance [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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SWAT Model Prediction of Phosphorus Loading in a South Carolina Karst Watershed with a Downstream Embayment

Amatya¹,

Jha²,

Williams³

et al. 2013

JEP

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The SWAT model was used to predict total phosphorus (TP) loadings for a 1555-ha karst watershed-Chapel Branch Creek (CBC)-which drains to a lake via a reservoir-like embayment (R-E). The model was first tested for monthly streamflow predictions from tributaries draining three potential source areas as well as the downstream R-E, followed by TP loadings using data collected March 2007-October 2009. Source areas included 1) a golf course that received applied wastewater, 2) urban areas, highway, and some agricultural lands, and 3) a cave spring draining a second golf course along with agricultural and forested areas, including a substantial contribution of subsurface water via karst connectivity. SWAT predictions of mean monthly TP loadings at the first two source outlets were deemed reasonable. However, the predictions at the cave spring outlet were somewhat poorer, likely due to diffuse variable groundwater flow from an unknown drainage area larger than the actual surface watershed, for which monthly subsurface flow was represented as a point source during simulations. Further testing of the SWAT model to predict monthly TP loadings at the R-E, modeled as a completely mixed system, resulted in their over-predictions most of the months, except when high lake water levels occurred. The mean monthly and annual flows were calibrated to acceptable limits with the exception of flow over-prediction when lake levels were low and surface water from tributaries disappeared into karst connections. The discrepancy in TP load predictions was attributed primarily to the use of limited monthly TP data collected during baseflow in the embayment. However, for the 22-month period, over-prediction of mean monthly TP load (34.6 kg/mo) by 13% compared to measured load (30.6 kg/mo) in the embayment was deemed acceptable. Simulated results showed a 42% reduction in TP load due to settling in the embayment.

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Thermal anomaly and water origin in Weebubbie Cave, Nullarbor Karst Plain, Australia

Buzzacott

Skrzypek

2021

Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies

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Streamflow and Nutrients from a Karst Watershed with a Downstream Embayment: Chapel Branch Creek

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Application of LiDAR Data for Hydrologic Assessments of Low-Gradient Coastal Watershed Drainage Characteristics

Application of LiDAR Data for Hydrologic Assessments of Low-Gradient Coastal Watershed Drainage Characteristics

SWAT Model Prediction of Phosphorus Loading in a South Carolina Karst Watershed with a Downstream Embayment

Thermal anomaly and water origin in Weebubbie Cave, Nullarbor Karst Plain, Australia

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