Temporal variability of exchange between groundwater and surface water based on high‐frequency direct measurements of seepage at the sediment‐water interface

Abstract

[1] Seepage at the sediment-water interface in several lakes, a large river, and an estuary exhibits substantial temporal variability when measured with temporal resolution of 1 min or less. Already substantial seepage rates changed by 7% and 16% in response to relatively small rain events at two lakes in the northeastern USA, but did not change in response to two larger rain events at a lake in Minnesota. However, seepage at that same Minnesota lake changed by 10% each day in response to withdrawals from evapotranspiration. Seepage increased by more than an order of magnitude when a seiche occurred in the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Near the head of a fjord in Puget Sound, Washington, seepage in the intertidal zone varied greatly from À115 to þ217 cm d À1 in response to advancing and retreating tides when the time-averaged seepage was upward at þ43 cm d À1. At all locations, seepage variability increased by one to several orders of magnitude in response to wind and associated waves. Net seepage remained unchanged by wind unless wind also induced a lake seiche. These examples from sites distributed across a broad geographic region indicate that temporal variability in seepage in response to common hydrological events is much larger than previously realized. At most locations, seepage responded within minutes to changes in surface-water stage and within minutes to hours to groundwater recharge associated with rainfall. Likely implications of this dynamism include effects on water residence time, geochemical transformations, and ecological conditions at and near the sediment-water interface.Citation: Rosenberry, D. O., R. W. Sheibley, S. E. Cox, F. W. Simonds, and D. L. Naftz (2013), Temporal variability of exchange between groundwater and surface water based on high-frequency direct measurements of seepage at the sediment-water interface, Water Resour.

Continental hydrosystem modelling: the concept of nested stream–aquifer interfaces

“…In addition, Diem et al (2014) recently showed that groundwater residence times are also strongly affected by the estimation of in-stream longitudinal water level distributions. These results are due to the fact that stream-aquifer exchange rates adapt very quickly to changes in surface water levels (Koussis et al, 2007;Maier and Howard, 2011;Rosenberry et al, 2013).…”

Groundwater discharge to wetlands driven by storm and flood events: Quantification using continuous Radon-222 and electrical conductivity measurements and dynamic mass-balance modelling

“…Crusius et al, 2005;Santos et al, 2009;Taniguchi, 2002). Similarly, rapid variations in groundwater fluxes have been observed in lakes in response to factors such as seiching and precipitation (Rosenberry et al, 2013). However, there is little known about the variations and dynamics in groundwater discharge over time scales of days to weeks in wetlands.…”

Simulating the Effects of Lake Wind Waves on Water and Solute Exchange across the Lakeshore Using Hydrus-2D

“…These increases were mainly ascribed to local water circulations driven by wind waves (Figure 4). Rosenberry et al [46] reported for the Great Salt Lake (USA) that there may be infiltration/exfiltration reversals due to waves, as well as reversals in the flow direction across the sediment-water interface. Similarly, Longuet-Higgins [47], Lenkopane et al [48], Wilson and Gardner [14], and Gibbes et al [49] reported that the mean onshore pressure gradient due to wave run up drives a groundwater circulation within the beach zone.…”