Transient Storage in Zero-Order Channels Draining Arctic Hillslopes

Abstract:

Water tracks are linear regions of preferential hydrologic flow on arctic hillslopes that discharge to lakes and higher-order streams. In comparison to headwater streams, which encompass flow velocities of 0.1 – 1.0 + m/s, water velocity in water tracks ranges 0.001 - 0.1 m/s, suggesting the potential for significant interaction of water and solutes with transient storage zones in hillslopes compared to streams. Transient storage, the temporary retention of water and solutes in slow-flowing water, contributes to increased water residence time and thus the exposure of water and associated solutes to biochemically reactive substrates. Seasonal patterns in thaw depth of hillslope soils and discharge from hillslopes in the Arctic suggest that the relative contribution of transient storage zones might show predictable seasonal- and event-scale patterns. We conducted slug injections of a conservative solute (NaCl) in two water tracks in the Kuparuk River watershed, Alaska, during two summers to characterize how transient storage varied with thaw depth and discharge. The resulting break-through curves were separated into three dominant processes using an analytical advection-dispersion model: 1) salt mass primarily moved by advection and dispersion, 2) salt mass experiencing transient storage, and 3) a mass loss term. Across all tracer experiments, the mean percentage of total injected tracer mass associated with transient storage was 54%. This is comparable to a peat-bottomed stream but greater than a cobble-lined channel in a nearby catchment. However, transient storage was variable among experiments (1.3 – 72%). Discharge was also variable across experiments, ranging 0.05 – 3.5 L/s, and there was a negative correlation between transient storage and discharge. Thus, we expect significant interaction of solutes with soils in water tracks during inter-storm periods, when the majority of water moving through water tracks enters transient storage zones. We did not see a significant increase in transient storage over the summer season, which suggests discharge is a greater influence on transient storage in water tracks than depth to thaw. Discharge acts as a significant control on transient storage in water tracks, influencing water residence time and the export of solutes down arctic hillslopes.