Storage Dynamics and Non-Linear Connectivity between Landscape Units Control Runoff Generation and Stream Water Age Distributions

Abstract:

We assess the influence of storage dynamics and non-linearities in hydrological connectivity on runoff generation and stream water ages, using a long-term record of daily isotopes in precipitation and stream flow. These were used to test a parsimonious tracer-aided runoff model for a Scottish catchment. The model tracks tracers and the ages of water fluxes through and between conceptual stores representing steeper hillslopes, dynamically saturated riparian peatlands and deeper groundwater (i.e. the main landscape units involved in runoff generation). Storage is largest in groundwater and on the steep hillslopes, though most dynamic mixing occurs in smaller stores in the riparian peat. The model also couples the ecohydrological effects of different vegetation communities in contrasting landscape units, by estimating evaporation, resulting moisture deficits and the ages of evaporated waters, which also affect the generation and age of runoff. Both stream flow and isotope variations are well-captured by the model, and the simulated storage and tracer dynamics in the main landscape units are consistent with independent measurements. The model predicts the mean age of runoff as ~1.8 years. On a daily basis, this varies from ~1 month in storm events, when younger waters draining the riparian peatland dominate, to around 4 years in dry periods, when groundwater sustains flow. Hydrological connectivity between the units varies non-linearly with storage which depends upon antecedent conditions and event characteristics. This, in turn, determines the spatial distribution of flow paths and the integration of their contrasting non-stationary ages. Improving the representation of storage dynamics and quantifying the ages of water fluxes in such models gives a more complete conceptualisation of the importance of the soil water fluxes in critical zone processes and a framework for tracking diffuse pollutants in water quality assessment.