Influence of watershed characteristics on streambed hydraulic conductivity across multiple stream orders.

Autor: Abimbola OP; Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 223 L. W. Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0726, United States., Mittelstet AR; Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 223 L. W. Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0726, United States. amittelstet2@unl.edu., Gilmore TE; Department of Biological Systems Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 223 L. W. Chase Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0726, United States.; Conservation and Survey Division, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 101 Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege Street, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0996, United States., Korus JT; Conservation and Survey Division, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 101 Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege Street, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0996, United States.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2020 Feb 28; Vol. 10 (1), pp. 3696. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Feb 28.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60658-3
Abstrakt: Streambeds are critical hydrological interfaces: their physical properties regulate the rate, timing, and location of fluxes between aquifers and streams. Streambed vertical hydraulic conductivity (K v ) is a key parameter in watershed models, so understanding its spatial variability and uncertainty is essential to accurately predicting how stresses and environmental signals propagate through the hydrologic system. Most distributed modeling studies use generalized K v estimates from column experiments or grain-size distribution, but K v may include a wide range of orders of magnitude for a given particle size group. Thus, precisely predicting K v spatially has remained conceptual, experimental, and/or poorly constrained. This usually leads to increased uncertainty in modeling results. There is a need to shift focus from scaling up pore-scale column experiments to watershed dimensions by proposing a new kind of approach that can apply to a whole watershed while incorporating spatial variability of complex hydrological processes. Here we present a new approach, Multi-Stemmed Nested Funnel (MSNF), to develop pedo-transfer functions (PTFs) capable of simulating the effects of complex sediment routing on K v variability across multiple stream orders in Frenchman Creek watershed, USA. We find that using the product of K v and drainage area as a response variable reduces the fuzziness in selecting the "best" PTF. We propose that the PTF can be used in predicting the ranges of K v values across multiple stream orders.
Databáze: MEDLINE