To What Extent Is Hydrologic Connectivity Taken into Account in Catchment Studies in the Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia? A Review

Abstract

Knowledge of hydrologic connectivity is important to grasp the hydrological response at a basin scale, particularly as changes in connectivity can have a negative effect on the environment. In the context of a changing climate, being able to predict how changes in connectivity will affect runoff and sediment transport is particularly relevant for land-use planning. Many studies on hydrology, geomorphology and climatology have been conducted in the Lake Tana Basin in Ethiopia, which is undergoing rapid development and significant environmental changes. This systematic literature review aims at assessing to what extent the hydrologic connectivity has been taken into account in such research, and to identify research gaps relevant to land and water management. On the Web of Science and Scopus databases, 135 scientific articles covering those topics were identified. Aspects of hydrologic connectivity were mostly implicitly taken into account based on process-based, statistical and descriptive models. Amongst the drivers of changing connectivity, the climate was covered by a large majority of publications (64%). Components of structural hydrologic connectivity were accounted for by considering geomorphology (54%) and soils (47%), and to a lesser extent, hydrography (16%) and geology (12%). Components of functional connectivity were covered by looking at surface water fluxes (61%), sediment fluxes (18%) and subsurface water fluxes (13%). While numerous studies of the Lake Tana Basin accounted for the hydrologic connectivity implicitly, these related predominantly to functional components. The structural components are given less attention, while in the context of a changing climate, better insights into their influence on the hydrologic seem most relevant. Better knowledge of the static aspect of connectivity is particularly important for targeting appropriate soil and water conservation strategies. Being able to explicitly assess the ‘structural connectivity’ is therefore of direct relevance for land management and land-use policy.

Soil Forming Factors of High-Altitude Mountains Along the East-Africa Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia

“…The western slope of this volcano is part of the Lake Tana Basin forming the upper reaches of the Blue Nile Basin. Over the last decades, Lake Tana Basin received a lot of research attention from hydrologists and geomorphologists [18]. Given the importance of soils in hydrological processes, and their relation to geomorphology, we aimed at characterizing the soils of Mt Guna.…”

Soil-Forming Factors of High-Elevation Mountains along the East African Rift Valley: The Case of the Mount Guna Volcano, Ethiopia

“…The western slopes of this volcano are part of the Lake Tana Basin forming the upper reaches of the Blue Nile Basin. Over the last decades, Lake Tana Basin has received considerable attention from hydrologists and geomorphologists [24][25][26]. Given the importance of soils in hydrological processes and their role in climate change mitigation, we aimed at characterizing the soils of Mount Guna.…”