Lateral subsurface stormflow and solute transport in a forested hillslope: A combined measurement and modeling approach

Abstract

AbstractPreferential flow dominates water movement and solute transport in boreal forest hillslopes. However, only a few model applications to date have accounted for preferential flow at forest sites. Here we present a parallel and coupled simulation of flow and transport processes in the preferential flow domain and soil matrix of a forested hillslope section in Kangaslampi, Finland, using a new, three‐dimensional, physically based dual‐permeability model. Our aim is to simulate lateral subsurface stormflow and solute transport at the slope during a chloride tracer experiment, and to investigate the role of preferential flow in the tracer transport. The model was able to mimic the observed tracer transport during tracer irrigation, but overestimated the dilution velocity of the tracer plume in the highly conductive soil horizons near the soil surface after changing the irrigation to tracer‐free water. According to the model, 140 times more chloride was transported downslope in the preferential flow domain than in the soil matrix during the tracer irrigation. The simulations showed, together with reference simulations with a traditional one pore domain model, that a two pore domain approach was required to simulate the observed flow and transport event. The event was characterized by the transmissivity feedback phenomenon and controlled by preferential flow mechanisms, in particular by lateral by‐pass flow. According to our results, accounting for the slow‐flow and fast‐flow domains of soil, as well as the water and solute exchange between the domains, is essential for a successful simulation of flow and solute transport in preferential flow dominated hillslopes.