Co-evolution of volcanic catchments in Japan

Abstract:

Present day landscapes have evolved over time through interactions between the prevailing climates and geological settings. Understanding the linkage between spatial patterns of landforms, soils, and vegetation in landscapes and their hydrological response is critical to make quantitative predictions in ungaged basins. Catchment co-evolution is a theoretical framework that seeks to formulate hypotheses about the mechanisms and conditions that determine the historical development of catchments and how such evolution affects their hydrological response. In this study, we selected 14 volcanic catchments of different ages (from 0.22 to 82Ma) in Japan. We derived indices of landscape properties (drainage density) as well as hydrological response (annual water balance, baseow index, and flow duration curves) and examined their relation with catchment age and climate (through the aridity index). We found signicant correlation between drainage density and baseow index with age, but not with climate. The age of the catchments was also signicantly related to intra-annual flow variability. Younger catchments tend to have lower peak flows and higher low flows, while older catchments exhibit more flashy runoff. The decrease of baseflow with catchment age confirms previous studies that hypothesized that in volcanic landscapes the major flow pathways have changed over time, from deep groundwater flow to shallow subsurface flow. The drainage density of our catchments decreased with age, contrary to previous findings in similar volcanic catchments but of signicant younger age than the ones explored here. In these younger catchments, an increase in drainage density with age was observed, and it was hypothesized that this was because of more landscape incision due to increasing near-surface lateral flow paths in more mature catchments. Our results suggest that as catchments further evolve, hydrologically active channels retreat as less recharge leads to lower average aquifer levels and less baseow.