Variation of surficial soil hydraulic properties across land uses in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA

Price, Katie; Jackson, C. Rhett; Parker, Albert

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.12.041

Cited by 165 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…E t in this region accounts for, on average, 47% of annual precipitation [18]. Canopy interception in this predominantly deciduous forests accounts for 10%-20% of precipitation [19][20][21].…”

Section: Water Balance and Catchment Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of high hydrologic conductivity in soil macropores [21,22], runoff generation in forested catchments is dominated by subsurface flow [23]. The biogeochemical composition of water discharged to the stream channel is a function of how long water remains in the catchment; longer residence times imply greater contact time for biogeochemical transformation [24,25].…”

Section: Water Balance and Catchment Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Miller

Zégre

2014

Water

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Mountaintop mining and valley fill (MTM/VF) coal extraction, practiced in the Central Appalachian region, represents a dramatic landscape-scale disturbance. MTM operations remove as much as 300 m of rock, soil, and vegetation from ridge tops to access deep coal seams and much of this material is placed in adjacent headwater streams altering landcover, drainage network, and topography. In spite of its scale, extent, and potential for continued use, the effects MTM/VF on catchment hydrology is poorly understood. Previous reviews focus on water quality and ecosystem health impacts, but little is known about how MTM/VF affects hydrology, particularly the movement and storage of water, hence the hydrologic processes that ultimately control flood generation, water chemistry, and biology. This paper aggregates the existing knowledge about the hydrologic impacts of MTM/VF to identify areas where further scientific investigation is needed. While contemporary surface mining generally increases peak and total runoff, the limited MTM/VF studies reveal significant variability in hydrologic response. Significant knowledge gaps relate to limited understanding of hydrologic processes in these systems. Until the hydrologic impact of this practice is better understood, efforts to reduce water quantity and quality problems and ecosystem degradation will be difficult to achieve.

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Section: Water Balance and Catchment Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Water Balance and Catchment Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Miller

Zégre

2014

Water

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“…Krummelbein et al (2009) investigated the effects of grazing intensity on soil hydraulic properties and revealed the variations in soil porosity and soil retention characteristics in Inner Mongolian grasslands. Recently, Fu et al (2015) and Price et al (2010) explored the variations in K s with land use changes and demonstrated the decrease in K s and the subsequent increase in overland flow resulting from deforestation or cultivation. Despite these advances, existing studies mostly focused on low-altitude areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation of soil hydraulic properties with alpine grassland degradation in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Pan

Hou

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Ecosystems in alpine mountainous regions are vulnerable and easily disturbed by global environmental change. Alpine swamp meadow, a unique grassland type in the eastern Tibetan Plateau that provides important ecosystem services to the upstream and downstream regions of international rivers of Asia and other parts of the world, is undergoing severe degradation, which can dramatically alter soil hydraulic properties and water cycling processes. However, the effects of alpine swamp meadow degradation on soil hydraulic properties and the corresponding influencing mechanisms are still poorly understood. In this study, soil moisture content (SMC), field capacity (FC) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (K s ) together with several basic soil properties under lightly degraded (LD), moderately degraded (MD) and severely degraded (SD) alpine swamp meadow were investigated; the variations in SMC, FC and K s with alpine swamp meadow degradation and their dominant influencing factors were analysed. The results showed that SMC and FC decreased consistently from LD to SD, while K s decreased from LD to MD and then increased from MD to SD, following the order of LD > SD > MD. Significant differences in soil hydraulic properties between degradation degrees were found in the upper soil layers (0-20 cm), indicating that the influences of degradation were most pronounced in the topsoils. FC was positively correlated with capillary porosity, water-stable aggregates, soil organic carbon, and silt and clay content; K s was positively correlated with non-capillary porosity (NCP). Relative to other soil properties, soil porosity is the dominant factor influencing FC and K s . Capillary porosity explained 91.1 % of total variance in FC, and NCP explained 97.3 % of total variance in K s . The combined effect of disappearing root activities and increasing sand content was responsible for the inconsistent patterns of NCP and K s . Our findings suggest that alpine swamp meadow degradation would inevitably lead to reduced water holding capacity and rainfall infiltration. This study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the soil hydrological effects of vegetation degradation. Further hydrological modelling studies in the Tibetan Plateau and similar regions are recommended to understand the effects of degraded alpine swamp meadows on soil hydraulic properties.

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“…Therefore, even the partial deforestation can bring substantial changes in patterns of hydrological response of the headwater catchments (Wiekenkamp et al, 2016). Price, Jackson and Parker (2010), in a hydrological study carried out in mountainous catchments, also found that the conversion of native vegetation to agricultural uses reduced soil infiltration and soil-water storage capabilities, resulting in increased surface runoff and reduced subsurface storage. The results of Germer et al (2010), in study involving land-use change on near-surface hydrological processes in the Amazon Basin, show that conversion of undisturbed forest to pasture increased not only the frequency and volume of stormflow, but also the contributing area and the manner in which the water moves into and through soil towards the drainage channels.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-use effect on hydropedology in a mountainous region of Southeastern Brazil

et al. 2017

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In Brazil, the Mantiqueira Range, southeastern region, shelters the last remnants of the ecologically important Upper Montane Tropical Forest. since extensive exploration that has been taking place in this biome for decades, the influence of land-use changes on hydropedology in these areas must be investigated once major land-use changes have been observed. This study aims to evaluate the land-use influence on soil drainable porosity (SDP) in a headwater watershed located in the Mantiqueira Range region, and to validate the proposed methods based on micromorphological and hydrological indicators. The native vegetation of the study area is Atlantic forest that occupies 62% of the area, and the remaining 38% has been used for pasture. Thirty nine combinations of environmental variables were tested, each one generating a map for predicting SDP. The performance of the spatial prediction of SDP was assessed using 20% of the data from the total number of samples collected throughout the watershed. The least values of SDP are due to the process of removal of native forest and replacement by pasture. Areas with high to moderate SDP are associated with native forest fragments demonstrating the effects of the Atlantic Forest on the water infiltration and groundwater recharge processes, given by the greater contribution of baseflow in a forested catchment located within the studied watershed. The analysis of soil micromorphological images provided useful supporting information on the soil porosity system and along with hydrological properties of the watershed helped understand the SDP behavior on subsurface and groundwater storage capacity. Index terms:Upper montane tropical forest; ecological services; mapping modeling; geomorphons. RESUMONo Brasil, a Serra da Mantiqueira, abriga um dos últimos remanescentes da Floresta Tropical de Altitude. Devido a grande exploração que vem ocorrendo neste bioma há décadas, a influência na hidropedologia decorrente das mudanças do uso do solo deve ser investigada. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a influência do uso do solo na porosidade drenável do solo (PDS) em uma bacia hidrográfica localizada na região da Serra da Mantiqueira e validar os métodos propostos com base em indicadores micromorfológicos e hidrológicos. A vegetação nativa da área de estudo é a Mata Atlântica que ocupa 62% da área, e com os 38% restantes utilizados para pastagem. Trinta e nove combinações de variáveis ambientais foram testadas, cada uma gerando um mapa para predizer a PDS. O desempenho da predição espacial da PDS foi avaliado utilizando 20% dos dados do número total de amostras coletadas em toda a bacia hidrográfica. Os menores valores de PDS são devidos ao processo de remoção de floresta nativa e substituição por pastagem. Áreas com altos a moderados valores de PDS estão associadas a fragmentos de florestas nativas que demonstram os efeitos da Mata Atlântica nos processos de infiltração de água e de recarga de água subterrânea na região da Mantiqueira, dada a maior contribuição do fluxo base em ...

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Variation of surficial soil hydraulic properties across land uses in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA

Cited by 165 publications

References 49 publications

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Variation of soil hydraulic properties with alpine grassland degradation in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

Land-use effect on hydropedology in a mountainous region of Southeastern Brazil

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