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Hydrology

Hydrology. Study of the movement and behavior of water. Hydrology. Physical, chemical, and biological attributes shaped at large and small geographic scales Probably single most important driver to large rivers – hydrological processes Must understand hydrology

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Hydrology

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  1. Hydrology Study of the movement and behavior of water

  2. Hydrology • Physical, chemical, and biological attributes shaped at large and small geographic scales • Probably single most important driver to large rivers – hydrological processes • Must understand hydrology • Large rivers do not “pop up” (exceptions)

  3. Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Tributary Large River

  4. Amazon and Major Tributaries

  5. Variable Above Missouri Below Missouri Water volume 3,576 m3/s 5,923 m3/s Nitrate – N 5.7 mg/L 2 mg/L Susp. Sediment <20 mg/L 340 mg/L

  6. Are tributaries always going to have a strong influence on receiving waters?

  7. Characterizing Hydrology

  8. Water Movement – Current Velocity Lab Tuesday Readings – why older papers? are they covered in lecture – yes and no

  9. Volume of Water Moving • Gage or Stage Height - the surface elevation or water level based on some standard • Discharge - the volume of water passing a specific point per unit time • Drainage Basin (watershed) - the total area from which water flows into a surface water channel

  10. Measuring Discharge?

  11. Amazon and Major Tributaries Dots on right denote gaging stations

  12. Temporal Hierarchical Levels of Hydrological Behavior • Flow regime (long-term, statistical generalization of flow behavior—influences that extend over 100s of years); • Flow history (the sequence of floods or droughts—influences between 1 to 100 years); • Flood pulse (a flood event—influences that generally extend less than one year); and • Flow hydraulics (turbulence, velocity and depth—microscale influences that extend less than an hour). • Refer back to first two slides (scale)

  13. Flood Pulse

  14. Flow History NOTE: The 6 yr of pre-dam data were recorded during a drought period

  15. Components of Natural Flow • Magnitude – amount of water moving past a fixed location per unit time (minimum and maximum magnitude) • Frequency of occurrence – how often a flow of given magnitude recurs over a time interval Poff et al. (1997)

  16. Flow Pulse

  17. Components of Natural Flow • Duration – period of time associated with a given flow event • Predictability – the regularity with which a given flow event occurs • Rate of change – the length of time from an event of one magnitude to another

  18. Mean annual discharge 1930 – 1995 below dam

  19. Delong et al. 2011

  20. Factors Shaping Hydrological Behavior • Controlled by upstream subcatchments, which have a range of: • climate • topography • geology and soils • land use • Channel, bank, floodplain storage • River-alluvial aquifer interaction • Climatic and hydrogeological diversity

  21. Runoff – the ultimate source of water

  22. Factors Affecting Runoff • Primary Controls • Climate • Soil Type • Bedrock Lithology • Secondary Controls • Vegetation Cover • Topography

  23. River Regime Statistics • Average Discharge • Bankfull Discharge • Flood Discharge • Flow Duration Curve • Flood Frequency Curve

  24. James and Thoms (2010)

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