Multiple, distinct groundwater flow systems of a single moraine–talus feature in an alpine watershed

Abstract

Recent studies suggest that talus slopes and moraines likely play an important role in groundwater flow and storage in alpine watersheds, though the subsurface processes of these unconsolidated sediment features are not fully understood. To gain insight into these groundwater systems, we investigated the spatial variability in groundwater properties and hydrological trends of a large spring and several nearby (⩽200 m) springs, discharging from a single moraine–talus feature in an alpine watershed in the Canadian Rockies. A key question was whether groundwater flow in these features is reasonably homogeneous. Hydrograph analyses revealed at least two different groundwater responses to precipitation and melt inputs: a rapid and likely localized response and a slower response indicating a subsurface connection to a nearby lake. There was also a large spread in groundwater composition across the large spring and between springs, including a consistent linear trend in major ion chemistry over a 20-m section of the large spring. The spatial and temporal trends in groundwater chemistry data suggests there are three groundwater components associated with this sediment feature, and that their relative contributions vary temporally, though the component associated with the lake appears dominant. The study findings suggest that unconsolidated sediment features can possess multiple, and possibly disconnected, groundwater flow paths exhibiting unique hydrological and geochemical characteristics, and cannot necessarily be treated as a single, homogeneous groundwater component when modeling the hydrology of alpine watersheds.