Runoff Connectivity Research Articles

A stochastic approach to modelling and understanding hillslope runoff connectivity dynamics

Runoff generation at the hillslope scale is an important component of the hydrological cycle. Recent work has shown that a common hillslope runoff response mechanism is driven by connectivity of saturated patches in the subsurface (via filling and spilling) to a threshold initiation of lateral flow at the hillslope base. Here, we show that directed percolation theory is able to represent this key runoff process including the details of dynamical flowpath development and filling and spilling processes at the soil-bedrock interface. We then use the directed percolation model to investigate how changes in slope angle, soil depth, and subsurface microtopography influence stormflow response. We map the evolving subsurface flow network under different hillslope classes and compare them to the natural system response. Our results suggest that the natural system sheds water more efficiently than randomly generated systems providing some insights into key hydrogeomorphic controls on water shedding in the environment.

Is the connectivity function a good indicator of soil infiltrability distribution and runoff flow dimension?

AbstractAmong the studies on runoff connectivity of soils with heterogeneous properties, the need to understand the relationships between soil heterogeneity and the associated runoff organization and amount is frequently mentioned. In this study, we simulate the stationary runoff–runon process on bi‐dimensional (2D) flat slopes for five infiltrability distributions, one of them correlated, as a function of rainfall intensity and flow dimension. We define flow dimension by 1 + ε, where ε is the outflow fraction transferred from one pixel to each of the two lateral downslope pixels. Our aim is to assess the effect of ε and soil heterogeneity on the connectivity function compared to the mean runoff flow rate, the wet area and the number of runoff patterns. The analysis of connectivity is carried within the percolation framework. The results show that the integral connectivity scale is more sensitive to the flow dimension and soil heterogeneity compared to the other variables. The wet area fraction does not depend on ε. Unlike previous studies, we find that increased runoff production is not necessarily related to increased connectivity. The use of the connectivity function within the percolation framework appears to be a valuable method for assessing the impact of soil heterogeneity and flow dimension on the runoff organization during a rainfall event. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cross-scale interactions between surface components and rainfall properties. Non-linearities in the hydrological and erosive behavior of semiarid catchments

• Semiarid catchments with BSCs showed a sharp threshold in runoff generation. • The threshold in runoff generation is controlled by total rainfall amount. • In low magnitude rains, runoff generated in BSCs areas is reinfiltrated in vegetation. • In high magnitude events, vegetation is unable of infiltrate all runoff from BSCs areas. • In these events, runoff connectivity is increased, but no extra sediments were exported. Non-vegetated areas in arid and semiarid ecosystems are usually covered by biological soil crusts (BSCs), which modify many surface properties and reduce soil erosion at local spatial scales. Nevertheless, runoff generated in these areas could increase downstream erosion, or on the contrary, supply water to downslope plants, which act as surface obstructions slowing down runoff, trapping sediments and thus reducing water erosion. However, their buffer capacity might be overwhelmed during some torrential rains, increasing catchment connectivity and modifying the hydrological behavior and subsequent water erosion measured at the catchment outlet. To progress in the knowledge of the effect of the interactions between BSCs and vegetation on runoff generation and water erosion at catchment scale, the long term hydrological response of semiarid badlands with an important cover of BSCs has been studied. This effect has been analyzed using piecewise regression analysis to find any possible break point in the runoff response of the catchment to rainfall, attributable to variations in the hydrological connectivity of the catchment. Once we found this break point, we used it to divide the database in two sub-databases, and we built two structural equation models (SEM) to identify the main hydrological drivers controlling runoff generation and water erosion at sub-datasets, corresponding with different stages of catchment connection. Our results show that during low magnitude rainfall events, runoff and erosion measured at the catchment outlet come essentially from physically crusted areas directly connected to the channel network and are controlled by rainfall intensity, whereas runoff generated in areas with BSCs is reinfiltrated downstream into local vegetation patches. However, during high-magnitude events, vegetated buffers are saturated, connecting areas covered by BSCs with the channel network and increasing the catchment efficiency in exporting water out of the system. Nevertheless, water and sediments connectivity is not always linked, and most sediments measured during both low and high-magnitude events are almost exclusively supplied by physically crusted areas, whereas, BSCs areas rarely yield sediments. The differences in the hydrological behavior of the catchment under low and high-magnitude rainfall events were found to be controlled by the interactions between source and vegetated areas, which in last turn control the hydrological connectivity at catchment scale.

Runoff generation and soil erosion processes after clear cutting

Timber harvesting by clear cutting is known to impose environmental impacts, including severe disturbance of the soil hydraulic properties which intensify the frequency and magnitude of surface runoff and soil erosion. However, it remains unanswered if harvest areas act as sources or sinks for runoff and soil erosion and whether such behavior operates in a steady state or evolves through time. For this purpose, 92 small‐scale rainfall simulations of different intensities were carried out under pine plantation conditions and on two clear‐cut harvest areas of different age. Nonparametrical Random Forest statistical models were set up to quantify the impact of environmental variables on the hydrological and erosion response. Regardless of the applied rainfall intensity, runoff always initiated first and yielded most under plantation cover. Counter to expectations, infiltration rates increased after logging activities. Once a threshold rainfall intensity of 20 mm/h was exceeded, the younger harvest area started to act as a source for both runoff and erosion after connectivity was established, whereas it remained a sink under lower applied rainfall intensities. The results suggest that the impact of microtopography on surface runoff connectivity and water‐repellent properties of the topsoil act as first‐order controls for the hydrological and erosion processes in such environments. Fast rainfall‐runoff response, sediment‐discharge‐hystereses, and enhanced postlogging groundwater recharge at catchment scale support our interpretation. At the end, we show the need to account for nonstationary hydrological and erosional behavior of harvest areas, a fact previously unappreciated in predictive models.

Advanced modelling of runoff and soil redistribution for agricultural systems: The SERT model

Hydrological and soil erosion models allow mapping and quantifying rates of runoff depths and soil redistribution for different land uses and climatic scenarios. Mediterranean soils are threatened by marked seasonal changes in the climatic, thus soil and vegetation parameters and modelling predictions at monthly scale are required. The semi-physically-based Soil Erosion and Redistribution Tool (SERT) model is presented together with the results of its application in a Mediterranean agro-ecosystem (NE Spain) with a detailed database. The hydrological module is based on the recently published DR2 (Distributed Rainfall-Runoff) water balance model and the effects of man-made infrastructures on the natural dynamics of runoff connectivity are added. The erosion module is built using, as the basis, the Revised Morgan, Morgan and Finney model, and the new Remaining runoff Transport Capacity (TCr) factor used to estimate the rates of soil loss and deposition. Predicted runoff depth varied in time and space, presenting areas without runoff production mainly in Rendzic Leptosols and Haplic Calcisols between November and April. Average soil erosion was high in cultivated and bare soils, ca. 20 and 10Mgha−1yr−1, whereas rangeland soils were affected by moderate and, in some areas, by limited erosion processes. Soil erosion was minimal in February (0.08Mgha−1month−1 on average) and 23 times higher in October. The SERT model allowed mapping the significant changes in the monthly values of soil redistribution quantifying the variability in the magnitude of the processes involved. Predicted values of average soil loss and deposition were validated against quantified values with 137Cs obtaining an average Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.48 (Pearson's r=0.709) and a sediment balance of −1.15Mgyr−1 for the whole catchment that is consistent with the karst processes of the study area. The new model is an easy-to-run, reliable, low-input-demanding management tool with valuable outputs for hydrological and soil erosion studies in small agricultural catchments.

Water flux and sediment transport within a forested landscape: the role of connectivity, subsurface flow, and slope length scale on transport mechanism

AbstractThe connectivity and upscaling of overland runoff and sediment transport are important issues in hillslope hydrology to identify water flux and sediment transport within landscape. These processes are highly variable in time and space with regard to their interactions with vegetation and soil surface conditions. The generation of overland runoff and its spatial connectivity were examined along a slope to determine the variations in the transport mechanism of runoff and soil particles by rain splash and overland runoff. Field experiments were conducted by erosion plots on a steep hillslope at lengths of 5, 10, and 15 m. The overland runoff connectivity and flow transport distance decreased with the slope length, while spatial variability of infiltration increased significantly with the slope length. Observation of subsurface flow revealed that surface soil and litter layer could have important role in water transport. However, the surface soil water content and water flux transport along the slope was highly variable for different storm events; the variability was related to the complexity of the system, mainly by way of the initial wetness conditions and infiltration characteristics. Only net rain‐splashed soil was measurable, but examination of the water flux, overland runoff and sediment transport connectivity, characteristics of sheetwash, and the variability in spatial infiltration indicated an increase in the contribution of the rain splash transport mechanism along the slope. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trends in Soil Erosion and Woody Shrub Encroachment in Ngqushwa District, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Woody shrub encroachment severely impacts on the hydrological and erosion response of rangelands and abandoned cultivated lands. These processes have been widely investigated at various spatial scales, using mostly field experimentation. The present study used remote sensing to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of soil erosion and encroachment by a woody shrub species, Pteronia incana, in a catchment in Ngqushwa district, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa between 1998 and 2008. The extreme categories of soil erosion and shrub encroachment were mapped with higher accuracy than the intermediate ones, particularly where lower spatial resolution data were used. The results showed that soil erosion in the worst category increased simultaneously with dense woody shrub encroachment on the hill slopes. This trend is related to the spatial patterning of woody shrub vegetation that increases bare soil patches--leading to runoff connectivity and concentration of overland flow. The major changes in soil erosion and shrub encroachment analysed during the 10-year period took place in the 5-9° slope category and on the concave slope form. Multi-temporal analyses, based on remote sensing, can extend our understanding of the dynamics of soil erosion and woody shrub encroachment. They may help benchmark the processes and assist in upscaling field studies.

Integrating subgrid connectivity properties of the micro-topography in distributed runoff models, at the interrill scale

The spatial configuration of micro-topography affects the runoff connectivity at the interrill scale and, therefore, the shape of the hydrograph. In a previous study, we demonstrated the ability of the so-called Relative Surface Connection (RSC) function to capture, at the grid scale, the evolution of the contributing area as a function of the depression storage filling. However, this function neglects the effect of surface detention, which is proportional to the runoff rate and which must be taken into account if one wants to predict correctly the discharge dynamics. Therefore we tested two corrective procedures in association with the RSC function to integrate, at the grid scale, the effects of both depression storage and surface detention dynamics. The weighted-source corrective procedure consists in weighing the effective supply of water between depression storage and runoff using the RSC function. The weighted-surface corrective procedure consists in splitting a single grid into parallel independent strips whose sizes depend on the RSC function and which activate at various times and then participate to the global runoff production. Those methods allowed to mimic in a simple way and at the grid scale synthetical and experimental hydrographs for complex subgrid micro-topographies. The weighted-source and especially the weighted-surface corrective procedures improved the hydrograph prediction compared to the classical approach where runoff only starts when depression storage capacity is full. In a purely numerical framework with four runoff scenarios on highly contrasted micro-topographies, this improvement was reflected in a significant increase of the median Nash and Sutcliffe coefficients E50 (E50 = 0.29 for the classical approach, E50 = 0.67 for the weighted-source procedure and E50 = 0.94 for the weighted-surface procedure). For the depression storage filling, an alternative to the Linsley equation was found and allowed a better description of surface runoff before maximal depression storage was reached. This was reflected in an increase of the E50 computed for 27 overland flow experiments under laboratory conditions and their equivalent model results (E50 = 0.89 for the Linsley approach, E50 = 0.94 with the proposed ‘uniform’ multiple- compartment conceptual approach, and E50 = 0.85 for the classical approach where runoff only starts when depression storage capacity is full).

Water-related ecological impacts of rill erosion processes in Mediterranean-dry reclaimed slopes

Soil moisture is considered the main limiting factor governing the structure and dynamics of vegetation in drylands. Soil erosion is perceived as a critical process affecting these systems, especially when rill formation occurs, as rill networks can condition the availability and spatial distribution of soil moisture. To assess the impact of soil erosion processes on the dynamics of Mediterranean-dry reclaimed systems, during the 2005–06 hydrological year we monitored the soil moisture regime (temporal availability and spatial distribution) and the associated responses describing vegetation performance (plant water status and potential seed germination) and vegetation structure in five coal-mining reclaimed slopes subjected to different rill erosion rates (from 0 to about 70 t ha − 1 year − 1 ). Rill network development leads to increased runoff connectivity and to concentration of water flow along the channeling network. As a result, water loss from the slope system is maximized. Simultaneously, the spatial distribution of soil moisture is ruled by the pattern of geomorphic forms (rill and interrill units). The ecological consequences are led by the intensification of water stress and the occurrence of unfavorable conditions for plant recruitment and natural colonization, causing a non-linear decline of species richness and aboveground biomass at the slope scale level. When dense rill networks are developed, long-term effects of erosion result in a sharp ecosystem transition to a very simple and low productive plant community spatially organized in downward spots adjacent to the rills, where plants minimize simultaneously water stress and the mechanical disturbance associated to concentrated flows. ► Rill erosion conditions the availability and spatial distribution of soil moisture ► Rill networks increase runoff connectivity, maximizing the loss of water from slopes ► Soil moisture is deprived from interril areas and concentrated in the rill beds ► Rill erosion reduces non-linearly the availability of water for vegetation ► The ecological consequences of rill erosion are led by the increase of water stress

Dynamic runoff connectivity of overland flow on steep forested hillslopes: Scale effects and runoff transfer

Both scaling effect and connectivity of overland flow were examined in steep hillslopes covered by (1) Japanese cypress (hinoki, Chamecyparis obtusa) plantations with sparse understory vegetation, (2) hinoki plantations with fern understory vegetation, and (3) deciduous forests. Two sizes of plots were installed for monitoring overland flow: small (0.5 × 2 m) and large hillslope scale (8 × 24–27 m). For all hillslopes, measurable amounts of overland flow occurred during storms. Runoff coefficients of large plots (0.1–3%) were consistently smaller than those of small plots (20–40%). Estimated runoff flow lengths at the hillslope scale were based on runoff coefficients from small plots and were used to calculate runoff volume from large plots. Then we compared the differences between observed and estimated runoff volumes of large plots. Estimated runoff from large plots was smaller than observed runoff in hinoki slopes with sparse understory vegetation. Greater amounts of observed compared to estimated overland flow suggest that more runoff occurred from hillslopes with sparse understory. In contrast, estimated overland flow was larger than observed runoff from the deciduous forest, implying greater opportunities for infiltration compared to hinoki hillslopes. Comparison of estimated versus observed overland flow for successive 5 min intervals during storms indicates that runoff networks expand upslope during short and intense precipitation periods. Our examination and comparison of storm runoff from small and large plots facilitate better understanding of runoff mechanisms, scaling effects in hillslopes, and connectivity of the overland flow network.

A methodology to assess the delivery of road runoff in forestry environments

AbstractThis paper outlines a conceptual and methodological approach to evaluating the risk of road derived runoff delivery, which is based on the principle of hydrological connectivity. Three different types of runoff delivery pathways are identified (stream crossings, gullied pathways and diffuse pathways) and the volume of runoff that may reach the stream through these pathways during a one in 10 year 30 minute event is estimated. The methodology is applied to three catchments of contrasting forest use, both plantation and native. Results show that degree of connectivity of a road depends on catchment characteristics such as the topography, road placement, drain spacing and road and drainage density. Maps outlining the distribution of different delivery pathways within a catchment are used to assess the potential for runoff connectivity. In one of the selected study catchments, the Albert River, greatest potential connectivity can be isolated to a single road. The upper part of this road crosses many tributaries resulting in high connectivity via stream crossings, whereas the lower part of the road is located within the valley bottom, where the majority of drains will contribute runoff during a one in 10 year event through diffuse overland flow. The presented methodology is also used to highlight hot‐spots in terms of runoff and sediment delivery through the creation of risk assessment maps, which allows for the evaluation of different procedures for road rehabilitation. Using examples from the Albert River catchment, we demonstrate that minimizing diffuse overland flow can generally be achieved by the placement of additional road drains, whereas at highly connected road segments the relocation of the road might be the only option. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Runoff generation and routing on artificial slopes in a Mediterranean–continental environment: the Teruel coalfield, Spain

AbstractThe aim of this study was to identify the mechanisms of runoff generation and routing and their controlling factors at the hillslope scale, on artificial slopes derived from surface coal mining reclamation in a Mediterranean–continental area. Rainfall and runoff at interrill and microcatchment scales were recorded for a year on two slopes with different substrata: topsoil cover and overburden cover. Runoff coefficient and runoff routing from interrill areas to microcatchment outlets were higher in the overburden substratum than in topsoil, and greater in the most developed rill network. Rainfall volume is the major parameter responsible for runoff response on overburden, suggesting that this substratum is very impermeable—at least during the main rainfall periods of the year (late spring and autumn) when the soil surface is sealed. In such conditions, most rainfall input is converted into runoff, regardless of its intensity. Results from artificial rainfall experiments, conducted 3 and 7 years after seeding, confirm the low infiltration capacity of overburden when sealed. The hydrological response shows great seasonal variability on the overburden slope in accordance with soil surface changes over the year. Rainfall volume and intensities (I30, I60) explain runoff at the interrill scale on the topsoil slope, where rainfall experiments demonstrated a typical Hortonian infiltration curve. However, no correlation was found at the microcatchment level, probably because of the loss of functionality of the only rill as ecological succession proceeded. The runoff generation mechanism on the topsoil slope is more homogeneous throughout the year. Runoff connectivity, defined as the ratio between runoff rates recorded at the rill network scale and those recorded at the interrill area scale in every rainfall event, was also greater on the rilled overburden slope, and in the most developed rill network. The dense rill networks of the overburden slope guarantee very effective runoff drainage, regardless of rainfall magnitude. Rills drain overland flow from interrill‐sealed areas, reducing the opportunity of reinfiltration in areas not affected by siltation. Runoff generation and routing on topsoil slopes are controlled by grass cover and soil moisture content, whereas on overburden slopes rill network density and soil moisture content are the main controlling factors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.