Water Resources Research最新文献

{"title":"Extending GLUE With Multilevel Methods to Accelerate Statistical Inversion of Hydrological Models","authors":"Max Gustav Rudolph, Thomas Wöhling, Thorsten Wagener, Andreas Hartmann","doi":"10.1029/2024wr037735","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr037735","url":null,"abstract":"Inverse problems aim at determining model parameters that produce observed data to subsequently understand, predict or manage hydrological or other environmental systems. While statistical inversion is especially popular, its sampling-based nature often inhibits its application to computationally costly models, which has compromised the use of the Generalized Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology, for example, for spatially distributed (partial) differential equation based models. In this study we introduce multilevel GLUE (MLGLUE), which alleviates the computational burden of statistical inversion by utilizing a hierarchy of model resolutions. Inspired by multilevel Monte Carlo, most parameter samples are evaluated on lower levels with computationally cheap low-resolution models and only samples associated with a likelihood above a certain threshold are subsequently passed to higher levels with costly high-resolution models for evaluation. Inferences are made at the level of the highest-resolution model but substantial computational savings are achieved by discarding samples with low likelihood already on levels with low resolution and low computational cost. Two example inverse problems, using a rainfall-runoff model and groundwater flow model, demonstrate the substantially increased computational efficiency of MLGLUE compared to GLUE as well as the similarity of inversion results. Findings are furthermore compared to inversion results from Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and multilevel delayed acceptance MCMC, a corresponding multilevel variant, to compare the effects of the multilevel extension. All examples demonstrate the wide-range suitability of the approach and include guidelines for practical applications.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142448790","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drag Force on Submerged Flexible Vegetation in an Open-Channel Flow","authors":"Jianyu Wang, Guojian He, Lei Huang, Subhasish Dey, Hongwei Fang","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036879","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036879","url":null,"abstract":"The movement of submerged flexible vegetation leads to an increase in resistance to the stream flow. In this study, a formula that can directly calculate the drag force on a highly flexible submerged vegetation, called <i>Ceratophyllum</i>, by using the vegetation swaying characteristics and the flow field information in a steady-uniform open-channel flow is derived. The drag force on submerged flexible vegetation is characterized by the time-averaged flow velocity, turbulence intensity, and the additional force arising from the vegetation swaying. Based on the results of the numerical models in the previous studies (Wang et al., 2022a, 2022b, https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2022.598, https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2022.899), the drag coefficient is determined. It is revealed that the drag coefficient is influenced by a combination of factors, including the flow conditions, and the distribution and movement characteristics of vegetation. The drag coefficient decreases with an increase in velocity and is approximately linearly related to the cubic power of the bulk flow velocity. In the case of an inter-plant spacing of 0.5 times the initial plant height, the drag coefficient ranges from 10.72 to 2.11, as the Reynolds number varies from 20,000 to 50,000. Besides, the vegetation distribution density and the relative submergence influence the drag coefficient. In this context, the drag coefficient decreases linearly with an increase in the inter-plant spacing. For the Reynolds number equaling 50,000, the drag coefficient ranges from 2.11 to 2.02, when the inter-plant spacing varies from 0.5 to 2 times the plant height, and from 2.47 to 1.79, when the flow depth varies from 1.5 to 3 times the plant height.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142448487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Pivotal Role of Evaporation in Lake Water Isotopic Variability Across Space and Time in a High Arctic Periglacial Landscape","authors":"Pete D. Akers, Ben G. Kopec, Eric S. Klein, Hannah Bailey, Jeffrey M. Welker","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036121","url":null,"abstract":"Rapidly changing climate is disrupting the High Arctic's water systems. As tracers of hydrological processes, stable water isotopes can be used for high quality monitoring of Arctic waters to better reconstruct past changes and assess future environmental threats. However, logistical challenges typically limit the length and scope of isotopic monitoring in High Arctic landscapes. Here, we present a comprehensive isotopic survey of 535 water samples taken in 2018 and 2019 of the lakes and other surface waters of the periglacial Pituffik Peninsula in far northwest Greenland. The <i>δ</i>¹⁸O, <i>δ</i>²H, and deuterium-excess values of these samples, representing 196 unique sites, grant unprecedented insight into the environmental drivers of the regional hydrology and water isotopic variability. We find that the spatial variability of lake water isotopes can best be explained through evaporation and the hydrological ability of a lake to replace evaporative water losses with precipitation and snowmelt. Temporally, summer-long evaporation can drive lake water isotopes beyond the isotopic range observed in precipitation, and wide interannual changes in lake water isotopes reflect annual weather differences that influenced evaporation. Following this, water isotope samples taken at individual times or sites in similar periglacial landscapes may have limited regional representativeness, and increasing the spatiotemporal extent of isotopic sampling is critical to producing accurate and informative High Arctic paleoclimate reconstructions. Overall, our survey highlights the diversity of isotopic compositions in Pituffik surface waters, and our complete isotopic and geospatial database provides a strong foundation for future researchers to study hydrological changes at Pituffik and across the Arctic.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142440703","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of Short-Term Climate Variations on Young Water Fraction in a Small Pre-Alpine Catchment","authors":"C. Xia, G. Zuecco, C. Marchina, D. Penna, M. Borga","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036245","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036245","url":null,"abstract":"Continuous and extended observations of hydrometeorological parameters, alongside the analysis of the isotopic composition across diverse waters within catchments, can significantly enhance our understanding of the potential ramifications of climate change on the hydrological response. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of hydrometeorological and isotopic data was conducted over 10 hydrological years (October 2012–September 2022) within a small, forested catchment in the Italian pre-Alps, aiming to investigate the impacts of short-term climatic changes on the isotopic composition of waters and the young water fraction (F_yw). The results showed that the catchment experienced climate conditions with rapid warming and drying trends. Significant isotopic enrichments were observed in all sampled water sources, driven primarily by air temperature. F_yw was estimated to be 0.64 ± 0.06, 0.45 ± 0.07, and 0.16 ± 0.03 for stream water, soil water, and shallow groundwater based on the whole-period sinusoidal fittings, respectively. Comparative analyses comprising different approaches for the estimation of F_yw showed that time-windows scenarios and detrending corrections yielded smaller F_yw than approaches based on the whole-period fitting and discharge-sensitivity modeling. Such differences can be attributed to an uneven temporal distribution of stream water isotopic data, the difficulties in capturing high flows in a humid catchment characterized by a fast runoff response during rainfall-runoff events, and the presence of isotopic trends. Our findings underscore the imperative of integrating interannual isotopic trends and adopting appropriate sampling strategy and methodological approaches to ensure a robust F_yw estimation.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142444406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Forecasting Lakes' Chlorophyll Concentrations Using Satellite Images and Generative Adversarial Networks","authors":"Nikolaos Nagkoulis, Giorgos Vasiloudis, Anastasia Moumtzidou, Ilias Gialampoukidis, Stefanos Vrochidis, Ioannis Kompatsiaris","doi":"10.1029/2024wr037138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr037138","url":null,"abstract":"Satellite data are extensively used for water quality monitoring purposes, offering a significantly reduced cost compared to in situ data sampling. Using past measurements to predict future conditions remains a challenging task, because of the complexity of the natural phenomena that are involved, with great potential in terms of water resources management. This paper proposes a model that can be used to forecast Chlorophyll-&lt;span data-altimg=\"/cms/asset/56d9a941-e73e-41ed-9d83-e30ef0d09f2c/wrcr27456-math-0001.png\"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;mjx-container ctxtmenu_counter=\"118\" ctxtmenu_oldtabindex=\"1\" jax=\"CHTML\" role=\"application\" sre-explorer- style=\"font-size: 103%; position: relative;\" tabindex=\"0\"&gt;&lt;mjx-math aria-hidden=\"true\" location=\"graphic/wrcr27456-math-0001.png\"&gt;&lt;mjx-semantics&gt;&lt;mjx-mrow&gt;&lt;mjx-mi data-semantic-annotation=\"clearspeak:simple\" data-semantic-font=\"italic\" data-semantic- data-semantic-role=\"greekletter\" data-semantic-speech=\"alpha\" data-semantic-type=\"identifier\"&gt;&lt;mjx-c&gt;&lt;/mjx-c&gt;&lt;/mjx-mi&gt;&lt;/mjx-mrow&gt;&lt;/mjx-semantics&gt;&lt;/mjx-math&gt;&lt;mjx-assistive-mml display=\"inline\" unselectable=\"on\"&gt;&lt;math altimg=\"urn:x-wiley:00431397:media:wrcr27456:wrcr27456-math-0001\" display=\"inline\" location=\"graphic/wrcr27456-math-0001.png\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi data-semantic-=\"\" data-semantic-annotation=\"clearspeak:simple\" data-semantic-font=\"italic\" data-semantic-role=\"greekletter\" data-semantic-speech=\"alpha\" data-semantic-type=\"identifier\"&gt;α&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;$alpha $&lt;/annotation&gt;&lt;/semantics&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/mjx-assistive-mml&gt;&lt;/mjx-container&gt; (Chl-&lt;span data-altimg=\"/cms/asset/400bae36-5108-47c6-9861-aebbf2fd9567/wrcr27456-math-0002.png\"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;mjx-container ctxtmenu_counter=\"119\" ctxtmenu_oldtabindex=\"1\" jax=\"CHTML\" role=\"application\" sre-explorer- style=\"font-size: 103%; position: relative;\" tabindex=\"0\"&gt;&lt;mjx-math aria-hidden=\"true\" location=\"graphic/wrcr27456-math-0002.png\"&gt;&lt;mjx-semantics&gt;&lt;mjx-mrow&gt;&lt;mjx-mi data-semantic-annotation=\"clearspeak:simple\" data-semantic-font=\"italic\" data-semantic- data-semantic-role=\"greekletter\" data-semantic-speech=\"alpha\" data-semantic-type=\"identifier\"&gt;&lt;mjx-c&gt;&lt;/mjx-c&gt;&lt;/mjx-mi&gt;&lt;/mjx-mrow&gt;&lt;/mjx-semantics&gt;&lt;/mjx-math&gt;&lt;mjx-assistive-mml display=\"inline\" unselectable=\"on\"&gt;&lt;math altimg=\"urn:x-wiley:00431397:media:wrcr27456:wrcr27456-math-0002\" display=\"inline\" location=\"graphic/wrcr27456-math-0002.png\" xmlns=\"http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML\"&gt;&lt;semantics&gt;&lt;mrow&gt;&lt;mi data-semantic-=\"\" data-semantic-annotation=\"clearspeak:simple\" data-semantic-font=\"italic\" data-semantic-role=\"greekletter\" data-semantic-speech=\"alpha\" data-semantic-type=\"identifier\"&gt;α&lt;/mi&gt;&lt;/mrow&gt;$alpha $&lt;/annotation&gt;&lt;/semantics&gt;&lt;/math&gt;&lt;/mjx-assistive-mml&gt;&lt;/mjx-container&gt;) values in water bodies, which are a common water quality indicator. The operation of the model lays on the fact that typically Chl-&lt;span data-altimg=\"/cms/asset/82a2909b-be9e-4112-9864-6d6f58e3c390/wrcr27456-math-0003.png\"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;mjx-container ctxtmenu_counter=\"120\" ctxtmenu_oldtabinde","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142440369","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the Mid to Long-Term Variability in Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity of Sandy Soils and Its Influencing Factors Under Constant Head Test in the Laboratory","authors":"Saeed Nikghalb Ashouri, Adrian Pittari, Vicki Moon, Ali Shokri","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036164","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036164","url":null,"abstract":"Saturated hydraulic conductivity (<i>Ks</i>) is a crucial parameter that influences water flow in saturated soils, with applications in various fields such as surface water runoff, soil erosion, drainage, and solute transport. However, accurate determination of <i>Ks</i> is challenging due to temporal and spatial uncertainties. This study addresses the knowledge gap regarding the long-term behavior of <i>Ks</i> in sandy soils with less than 10% fine particles. The research investigates the changes in <i>Ks</i> over a long period of constant head tests and examines the factors influencing its variation. Two sandy samples were tested using a hydraulic conductivity cell, and the hydraulic head and discharge were recorded for over 50 days. The results show a general decline in <i>Ks</i> throughout the test, except for brief periods of increase. At the end of both tests, there are noticeable reductions in the saturated hydraulic conductivities of the samples, with one sample being 96% and the other sample 91% less than the maximum recorded saturated hydraulic conductivity during the tests. Furthermore, the relationship between flow rate and hydraulic head gradient does not follow the expected linear correlation from Darcy's law, highlighting the complex nature of sandy soil saturated hydraulic conductivity. The investigation of soil properties in three different sections of the samples before and after the tests revealed a decrease in the percentage of fine particles and a shift in specific gravity from the bottom to the top of the sample, suggesting particle migration along the flow direction. Factors such as clogging by fine particles and pore pressure variation contribute to the changes in <i>Ks</i>. The findings of this research show the importance of considering changes of saturated hydraulic conductivity during constant-head laboratory tests. Therefore, this study provides evidence for the requirement to further assess the laboratory methods for measurement of the saturated hydraulic conductivity in sandy soil mixtures.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142436388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Granular Cooling of Uni-Sized Inelastic Particles in an Obstructed Chute","authors":"Solange V. Mendes, Rui M. L. Ferreira, Rui Aleixo, Michele Larcher, Sílvia Amaral","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036320","url":null,"abstract":"This research aims to experimentally characterize cooling, clogging and jamming of a dry granular flow in a chute partially obstructed by a stopping wall with two slits adjacent to the side walls. We ensemble-average velocities, determined with Particle Tracking Velocimetry, and its fluctuations, to compute mean flow and granular temperature fields. Full chute-wide jamming is triggered by the formation of stable arch-like clogging structures in front of the slits. The statistical distribution of the clogging instant is not heavy-tailed, which indicates that clogging occurs only when the flow through the slits is liquid-like. An upstream-progressing jamming wave eventually forms, similar to that observed in fully obstructed chutes. There is no triple point anywhere, since the flow cools down to a granular liquid before jamming. We identified three main stages of jamming wave propagation. The initial buildup is characterized by high values of the upstream Froude number, slow progression, and transformation of kinetic into potential energy. This occurs with significant granular head losses, as particles attempt to flow over the jam. In the second stage, accretion becomes dominant, characterized by smaller head losses and, consequently, higher values of the jamming wave celerity. In the third stage, the jamming wave propagates against a cooler but faster flow that pushes against the jam, slightly increasing the wave strength. Accretion is the main mechanism of jammed mass increase, justifying a further increase of wave acceleration. The macroscopic aspects of the jamming wave dynamics can be described, as a first approximation, by shallow-water theory.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142436406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Frequency and Spatial Variability of European Record Floods","authors":"M. Bertola, A. Castellarin, A. Viglione, E. Valtancoli, G. Blöschl","doi":"10.1029/2023wr036767","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2023wr036767","url":null,"abstract":"Regional envelope curves (RECs) have been used to characterize the flooding potential of regions worldwide. However, a comprehensive assessment for Europe is still missing. In this study we use the largest European flood database to quantify the magnitude of record floods, their dependence on catchment size, and the amount of available independent information, which is needed for estimatinig the REC's exceedance probability. We propose a framework for estimating REC parameters across large areas, consisting in partitioning the domain according to the observation density and estimating the REC slope through quantile regression. The results show that the REC parameters vary substantially across Europe. The envelope unit flood associated with a catchment area of 1,000 km² varies between 0.1 and 6 m³s⁻¹km⁻² and is highest in Mediterranean and Alpine areas and lowest in central-eastern Europe. The slope of the envelope varies between 0 and −1 and is larger in Southern Europe than in Northern Europe. These differences are explained by steeper landscape in mountaineous regions and localized short duration storms producing large floods in small catchments in the Mediterranean, whose intensities are larger than in other parts of Europe. Based on the framework of probabilistic envelope curves we show that, despite the uneven observation density, the obtained RECs are associated with comparable exceedance probabilities.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142440702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New Analytical Solutions for Constant Rate Pumping in Two-Zone Double-Porosity Confined Aquifer: A New Source Term Reflecting Effects of Well Skin and Wellbore Storage","authors":"Chen Wang, Chenchen Tong, Hund-Der Yeh, Ching-Sheng Huang","doi":"10.1029/2024wr037472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr037472","url":null,"abstract":"This study develops two new analytical models for constant rate pumping at a partially penetrating well in a double-porosity confined aquifer, considering skin and formation zones. One model, referred to as the two-zone model, incorporates a flow equation to depict the flow in the skin around the well. The other model, named the source-term model, introduces a novel source term at the outer rim of the skin to reflect the effects of both the skin and wellbore storage. The analytical solutions for both models are derived by the Laplace transform and finite Fourier cosine transform. Additionally, a finite element solution for the source-term model is presented. Results suggest the source-term model is suitable to most wells when the width of the skin is less than 1 m and the radius of influence exceeds the outer rim of the skin. Temporal drawdown distribution for a negative skin exhibits a triple-humped shape with two flat stages, while that for a positive skin shows monotonous increase. The source-term model enables orthogonal 5 × 5 nodes for finite element approximation to discretize a well and its adjacent skin. The finite element solution aligns with early drawdown data measured at an observation well under the effects observed in two field constant rate pumping tests. In conclusion, this study introduces a novel approach to modeling two-zone flow, which may find practical utility in field applications.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142444405","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing the Sources of Sediment Retained by Beaver Dams and Beaver Dam Analogs","authors":"Cherie J. Westbrook, David J. Cooper","doi":"10.1029/2024wr037717","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1029/2024wr037717","url":null,"abstract":"Beavers modify riverine systems by building dams that alter downstream fluxes of water and sediment. Where beavers have been lost and stream channels degraded, beaver dam analogs (BDAs) are being used to mimic the effects of beaver engineering. Central to the success of these structures in accelerating stream recovery is creating similar ecosystem responses as beaver dams including sediment retention. Unknown is the relative importance of beaver actions versus erosion in the catchment in generating the retained sediment. This study tested the viability of sediment fingerprinting to determine the source of sediment retained by beaver dams and BDAs in a watershed in Alberta, Canada. Concentrations of 29 elements were measured as potential tracers from known sediment sources: upland, terrace, stream bank, and beaver canal. Virtual mixture tests, used to compare the computed source estimates with known source mixtures, revealed that sediment fingerprinting is a robust method for identifying sources of sediment retained by beaver ponds and BDAs. The un-mixing model results indicate that on average 56% of the sediment retained by the beaver dams originated from terraces, 23% from uplands, and 13% from beaver canals. About 89% of sediment retained by the BDAs originated from eroding stream banks. We conclude that the geomorphic effects of beavers and their dams are more diverse, resulting in more diverse sources of sediment retained by their dams. This differentiates beaver dams from BDAs. The study has implications for informing management practices that involve beavers and beaver mimicry.","PeriodicalId":23799,"journal":{"name":"Water Resources Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.4,"publicationDate":"2024-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142431389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}