Abstract
Hyporheic zones include the saturated portions of streambeds, banks, and floodplain containing water that originates from a stream and returns to the channel. They are characterized by a mixture of local and regional groundwater and stream water, and typically vary in extent and duration. Hyporheic zones are habitat and refuge for various stages of aquatic organisms such as microbes, macroinvertebrates, and fish. They form ecotones that process solutes and carbon, support ecosystem metabolism, and influence stream biota and chemistry. Methods used to investigate and characterize hyporheic zones include instream piezometers, seepage meters, floodplain monitoring wells, steam gauging, tests to determine the hydrologic properties of saturated sediments, tracer studies, mapping of head distributions and flow directions, sampling of biota and geochemical constituents, modeling water exchange locations and rates, and defining geochemical cycling and heat exchange. Specific methods described are the installation of mini-piezometers, measuring the vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG), hydraulic conductivity and flux rates, estimating groundwater velocity, conducting and analyzing tracer tests, and analyzing floodplain monitoring well head and quality data sets.
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