Streamflow generation in a large, alpine watershed in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado: Is streamflow generation simply the aggregation of hillslope runoff responses?

Abstract

Spatial and temporal trends in stream chemistry were investigated in a large (1600 km2) alpine watershed in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado to help understand mechanisms of streamflow generation. We observed linear increases of concentrations of chemical constituents in streamflow as accumulated drainage area increased along the main channel of Saguache Creek. We tested two conceptual models of streamflow generation against our stream chemistry observations. One model is essentially two‐dimensional and treats streamflow generation at the large watershed scale as the aggregation of runoff responses from individual hillslopes, primarily surface and shallow subsurface flow paths. Alternatively, a fully three‐dimensional conceptual model treats streamflow generation as being controlled by a distribution of large‐scale groundwater flow paths as well as surface and shallow subsurface flow paths. The structure and magnitude of groundwater contributions in streamflow as a function of increasing scale provided a key distinction between these two conceptual models. End‐member mixing analysis and measurements of hydraulic head gradients in streambeds were used to quantify basin‐scale groundwater contributions to streamflow with increasing spatial scale in the Saguache Creek watershed. Our data show that groundwater contributions are important in streamflow generation at all scales and, more importantly, that groundwater contributions to streamflow do increase with increasing watershed scale. These results favor the three‐dimensional conceptual model in which long groundwater flow paths provide a streamflow generation process at large scales that is not operative at smaller scales. This finding indicates that large watersheds may be more than simply the aggregation of hillslopes and small catchments.