Multi-scale heterogeneous movement on hillslope solute transport toward surface water

English Abstract:

Surface water quality is controlled at the hillslope scale through a variety of processes occurring at different scales. Modeling efforts have significantly advanced but additional real field data over entire hillslopes is needed for studying relationship between these processes in time and space. The objective of this study concerns a field description of several preferential flow and matrix flow processes at different locations in a catena using different tracers. Tracer concentration was studied over two years in all three soils of the catena, in the buffer strip and in the creek of an agricultural site. The results indicate that each scale influenced solute transport toward surface water, but the connectivity between these vertical and lateral processes was most important. The processes occurring upslope were just as important on surface water quality as those close to the creek. Bypass of the buffer strip occurred due to different preferential flow processes within the buffer strip and uphill.