Variation in reach-scale hydraulic conductivity of streambeds

MJ Stewardson; T Datry; N Lamouroux; H Pella; N Thommeret; L Valette; SB Grant

Journal article

Variation in reach-scale hydraulic conductivity of streambeds

MJ Stewardson, T Datry, N Lamouroux, H Pella, N Thommeret, L Valette, SB Grant

Geomorphology | Published : 2016

DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.02.001

Abstract

Streambed hydraulic conductivity is an important control on flow within the hyporheic zone, affecting hydrological, ecological, and biogeochemical processes essential to river ecosystem function. Despite many published field measurements, few empirical studies examine the drivers of spatial and temporal variations in streambed hydraulic conductivity. Reach-averaged hydraulic conductivity estimated for 119 surveys in 83 stream reaches across continental France, even of coarse bed streams, are shown to be characteristic of sand and finer sediments. This supports a model where processes leading to the accumulation of finer sediments within streambeds largely control hydraulic conductivity rathe..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Michael Stewardson Author

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Grants

Awarded by National Science Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

Stewardson and Grant acknowledge the support of the Australian Research Council (ARC DP130103619) and the US National Science Foundation Partnerships for International Research and Education (OISE-1243543). Stewardson undertook this research primarily while on study leave and hosted by IRSTEA in Lyon, France.The authors would like to thank the ONEMA (French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments) that provided funding for the CarHyCE studies, the river stakeholders who collected the data on the field and contributed to methodological developments, Frederic Gob (Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne - Laboratoire de Geographie Physique, France), Clelia Bilodeau (Universite Paris 7 Denis Diderot - LADYSS, France), Marie-Bernadette Albert Jerome Belliard (UR HBAN, Irstea), and Jean-Marc Baudoin (ONEMA) who worked on the methodological approach and processed the data.