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Sediment and nutrient loss from agricultural landscapes contributes to water quality impairment and has the potential to impact crop yield. Best management practices (BMPs) such as riparian buffers have been designed to combat these issues; however, concentrated flow paths (CFPs) reduce their effectiveness and are often overlooked in agricultural fields. Conventional management of CFPs is to fill and grade them, however this provides only a short term solution leading to their reformation and increased sediment loss. The objectives of this project were: i) to determine if the filling of CFPs influence crop growth (yield and biomass), ii) determine a distance at which crop growth is no longer influenced by CFPs, iii) assess the impact that topography and CFPs have on crop growth, iv) analyze water quality in surface runoff leaving crop fields via CFPs, and v) develop an economic analysis for CFP’s influence on crop returns. Six small agricultural catchments, CFPs, and topographic positions (i.e., depositional, backslope, and shoulder) were delineated using ArcGIS and LiDAR data. In each catchment, six 4 m2 plots were established along CFPs where crop biomass and crop yield were measured. Additionally, six plots with no influence from CFPs were established as reference plots. Surface water quality was assessed by taking edge-of-field grab samples at the CFP outlet during significant rain events (i.e., precipitation exceeding 2.5 cm). Water samples were analyzed for total suspended solids (TSS), total phosphorus (TP), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N), and nitrate-N (NO3- -N). Through this study it was shown that CFPs served as a conduit for transporting nutrient and sediment laden runoff to receiving waters, that increasing/decreasing distance from CFPs had an impact on crop yields, and that there was no crop yield advantage from the filling of CFPs vs. leaving them unfilled. Median values for NO3-N (1.85 mg L-1) and TSS (140 mg L-1) in the Fill catchments were higher than the No-Fill catchments (0.77 mg L-1 and 35.5 mg L-1, respectively), while DRP and TP concentrations were higher in the No-Fill catchments (1.31 mg L-1 and 2.37 mg L-1, respectively) compared to the Fill catchments (0.91 mg L-1 and 1.83 mg L-1, respectively) over the growing season. Crop biomass and yield results between the depositional and backslope positions were similar regardless of treatment, but were lower than the reference plots and shoulder position. Results from the economic analysis on the cost of farming in/near CFPs indicated that the economic return was greatly dependent on precipitation. CFPs are generally concave positions on the landscapes and have been eroded to a clayey subsoil, both resulting in greater water accumulation and retention than elsewhere in the field. During wetter years, an economic loss was incurred nearest to the CFP and during drier years, sites nearest to CFPs saw positive returns. Farmers and land managers may consider implementing stabilization measures, such as grassed waterways, in CFPs since crop yields are typically lower in wetter years, there’s increased cost to maintain these areas, and accelerated sediment loss can exacerbate the crop yield losses and impact on water quality.

Surface water-groundwater interaction can provide various stream functions including temperature regulation, nutrient cycling, pollutant attenuation, and habitat creation. However previous literature is divided on the extent and conditions of these benefits. This dissertation has explored the dominance of hydraulic conductivity (K) on hyporheic hydraulics and implications to hyporheic zone functions through a series of modeling studies and field experiments. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software was used to model the effect of varying K on weir-induced hyporheic exchange hydraulics and heat transport. Fundamental shifts in hydraulics and temperature dynamics occurred at threshold K's. Surface water began noticeably sinking into the bed above a threshold of K=10-3 m/s and inertial forces caused deviation from Darcy's Law. The heat transport model indicated net downstream surface water cooling from weir-induced exchange was maximized by maximizing K (flow-limited function) and thermal heterogeneity increased with K, particularly above K=10-5 m/s. Results suggest that using CFD to predict surface water-groundwater interaction may be important to accurately predict hyporheic hydraulics and functions dependent on flow-rate or residence time. The importance of macropores to hyporheic transport through meander bends was explored. Transport velocities, hydraulic head gradients, and solute transport rates through the meander bend were increased by macropores. Results indicate that macropores can dictate solute or pollutant transport through meander bends and in the hyporheic zone, which in turn may influence biogeochemical cycling and pollutant attenuation. Surface-connected macropores along streams were studied as hydrologically important subsurface heterogeneities for surface water-groundwater interaction. Macropores were common geomorphic features in the Appalachian province of southwestern Virginia, and were inundated during storm events over a one-year period. Banks with macropores experienced increased hydraulic head fluctuations, temperature fluctuations, and K. Macropores increased bank storage rates and solute transport between the channel and riparian groundwater zones, which in turn may influence biogeochemical cycling, pollutant attenuation, and hyporheic habitat. Macropores may be important to hyporheic flow and solute transport in a wide range of conditions and may broaden the portion of the landscape in which hyporheic exchange is important. Future work is needed to further assess the impacts of macropores on hyporheic functions and explore new methods to map and quantify macropore geometries and inter-connectivity. / Ph. D.

Field scale research shows concentrated flow paths (CFPs) are prevalent in agricultural watersheds. They are an important source of soil erosion in cropland and significantly contribute to the transport and delivery of agricultural pollutants such as sediment and nutrients to nearby water resources. High resolution LiDAR data have enabled the investigation of the prevalence of concentrated flow at a large geographic extent. This study focused on identifying CFPs in 389 agricultural fields in Jackson County in southern Illinois and estimating the contribution of the CFPs to drainage of the fields. Addressing the lack of literature on factors influencing CFP characteristics, this study also investigates various topographical and soil factors that influence CFP development. LiDAR derived DEMs with a cell resolution of 3 meters were used to identify areas of flow concentration and delineate a drainage basin of each CFP using the Hydrology tools in the Spatial Analyst toolbox in ArcMap 10.3.1. Information on the topographical and soil characteristics were obtained from the DEMs and SSURGO database using the Soil Data Viewer 6.2 extension for ArcMap. Multiple regression analysis in SAS v. 9.4 was used to identify factors influencing CFP characteristics, while CART analysis in R v. 3.3.1 was conducted to detect linear dependencies among predictor variables. An average of 5 CFPs per agricultural field were observed in the study area with a minimum of 0 and maximum of 17 CFPs, but only two fields had no CFPs indicating a high prevalence of CFPs throughout the study area. The mean percent of field area drained by CFPs was estimated to be 81 percent with minimum of 36 percent and ii maximum of 100 percent. The majority of the fields, 85 percent, had more than 70 percent of their area drained by CFPs. Statistically significant regression equations were found for all CFP characteristics with slope, LS factor, K factor and organic matter as the factors influencing CFP characteristics. However, the factors only explained 2 to 22 percent of variation observed. Both multiple regression and CART analysis indicated slope as the most important influencing factor. Variation in CFP characteristics followed regional trends with higher values in the floodplain region and lower values in the rough hills region suggesting residual variation could be explained by other environmental factors along with topographical and climatological factors which were not included in the study. Results from this study highlight the prevalence of CFPs at a regional scale and their substantial contribution to field drainage identifying a need for research in quantifying the impacts of CFP on soil loss and water quality. This study also reports a need of future research to identify important factors controlling CFP formation and development that could help build empirical and physical models to accurately predict CFP locations and morphology. Such information could be useful in designing and targeting conservation practices that protect both soil health and water quality.

Large areas in the humid tropics are currently undergoing land-use change. The decrease of tropical rainforest, which is felled for land clearing and timber production, is countered by increasing areas of tree plantations and secondary forests. These changes are known to affect the regional water cycle as a result of plant-specific water demand and by influencing key soil properties which determine hydrological flow paths. One of these key properties sensitive to land-use change is the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) as it governs vertical percolation of water within the soil profile. Low values of Ks in a certain soil depth can form an impeding layer and lead to perched water tables and the development of predominantly lateral flow paths such as overland flow. These processes can induce nutrient redistribution, erosion and soil degradation and thus affect ecosystem services and human livelihoods. Due to its sensitivity to land-use change, Ks is commonly used to assess the associated changes in hydrological flow paths. The objective of this dissertation was to assess the effect of land-use change on hydrological flow paths by analysing Ks as indicator variable. Sources of Ks variability, their implications for Ks monitoring and the relationship between Ks and near-surface hydrological flow paths in the context of land-use change were studied. The research area was located in central Panama, a country widely experiencing the abovementioned changes in land use. Ks is dependent on both static, soil-inherent properties such as particle size and clay mineralogy and dynamic, land use-dependent properties such as organic carbon content. By conducting a pair of studies with one of these influences held constant in each, the importance of static and dynamic properties for Ks was assessed. Applying a space-for-time approach to sample Ks under secondary forests of different age classes on comparable soils, a recovery of Ks from the former pasture use was shown to require more than eight years. The process was limited to the 0−6 cm sampling depth and showed large variability among replicates. A wavelet analysis of a Ks transect crossing different soil map units under comparable land cover, old-growth tropical rainforest, showed large small-scale variability, which was attributed to biotic influences, as well as a possible but non-conclusive influence of soil types. The two results highlight the importance of dynamic, land use-dependent influences on Ks. Monitoring studies can help to quantify land use-induced change of Ks, but there is a variety of sampling designs which differ in efficiency of estimating mean Ks. A comparative study of four designs and their suitability for Ks monitoring is used to give recommendations about designing a Ks monitoring scheme. Quantifying changes in spatial means of Ks for small catchments with a rotational stratified sampling design did not prove to be more efficient than Simple Random Sampling. The lack of large-scale spatial structure prevented benefits of stratification, and large small-scale variability resulting from local biotic processes and artificial effects of destructive sampling caused a lack of temporal consistency in the re-sampling of locations, which is part of the rotational design. The relationship between Ks and near-surface hydrological flow paths is of critical importance when assessing the consequences of land-use change in the humid tropics. The last part of this dissertation aimed at disclosing spatial relationships between Ks and overland flow as influenced by different land cover types. The effects of Ks on overland-flow generation were spatially variable, different between planar plots and incised flowlines and strongly influenced by land-cover characteristics. A simple comparison of Ks values and rainfall intensities was insufficient to describe the observed pattern of overland flow. Likewise, event flow in the stream was apparently not directly related to overland flow response patterns within the catchments. The study emphasises the importance of combining pedological, hydrological, meteorological and botanical measurements to comprehensively understand the land use-driven change in hydrological flow paths. In summary, Ks proved to be a suitable parameter for assessing the influence of land-use change on soils and hydrological processes. The results illustrated the importance of land cover and spatial variability of Ks for decisions on sampling designs and for interpreting overland-flow generation. As relationships between Ks and overland flow were shown to be complex and dependent on land cover, an interdisciplinary approach is required to comprehensively understand the effects of land-use change on soils and near-surface hydrological flow paths in the humid tropics. / Tropische Regionen sind einem andauernden Landnutzungswandel unterworfen. Einerseits wird tropischer Regenwald für Holz- und Flächengewinnung abgeholzt, andererseits fallen Flächen im Zuge der Urbanisierung brach. Diese werden zum Teil mit Nutzholz-Plantagen aufgeforstet, zum Teil entwickelt sich auf ihnen natürlicher Sekundärwald. Änderungen in der Landnutzung beeinflussen Bodeneigenschaften und dadurch implizit den Wasserkreislauf der Region. Eine dieser wichtigen landnutzungsabhängigen Bodeneigenschaften ist die gesättigte hydraulische Leitfähigkeit oder Permeabilität, die maßgeblich die Versickerungsrate im Boden bestimmt. Eine niedrige Permeabilität hemmt die (vertikale) Versickerung und kann dazu führen, dass laterale hydrologische Fließpfade wie z.B. Oberflächenabfluss aktiviert werden. Dadurch wird sowohl die Bodenerosion und Nährstoffverlagerung verstärkt als auch die Auffüllung des Grundwasserspeichers verringert. In welchem Maße jedoch die Änderung der Permeabilität während des Landnutzungswandels eine Änderung der hydrologischen Fließpfade nach sich zieht, ist noch unzureichend erforscht. Die Zielstellung der vorliegenden Dissertation war, mit Hilfe der Permeabilität als Indikatorvariable die Auswirkungen des Landnutzungswandels auf bodennahe hydrologische Fließpfade zu beurteilen. Dabei sollten die Quellen der Variabilität der Permeabilität anhand des Einflusses von Bodentyp und Landnutzung eingeschätzt, diese Variabilität in das Design einer Probenahmestrategie für die Permeabilität integriert und die Auswirkungen dieser Einflüsse auf die Aktivierung lateraler Fließpfade untersucht werden. Die Studien wurden in Panama durchgeführt, da dieses Land stark vom Landnutzungswandel betroffen ist, eine gute Forschungsinfrastruktur aufweist und sich durch die hohen Niederschläge des tropischen Klimas Änderungen im Wasserkreislauf besonders stark auswirken. Zwei Teilstudien zu den Quellen der Variabilität der Permeabilität lieferten Hinweise auf einen möglichen Einfluss des Bodentyps, der jedoch durch den lokal stärkeren Einfluss der Landnutzung überprägt wurde. Auf regionaler Skala wurde die Erholung der Permeabilität unter Sekundärwald nach einer vorhergehenden Weidenutzung belegt. Beide Studien deuteten auf einen maßgeblichen Einfluss der Landnutzung und der räumlichen Struktur der Permeabilität auf die untersuchten Prozesse hin. Für die effiziente Abschätzung zeitlicher Veränderungen der Permeabilität, wie sie im Zuge des Landnutzungswandels auftritt, ist die Einbeziehung dieser räumlichen Strukturen in das Design einer Probenahmestrategie für die Permeabilität von großer Bedeutung, wie in einem Vergleich vier verschiedener Designs gezeigt wurde. Der Zusammenhang zwischen der Permeabilität und der Entstehung von Oberflächenabfluss konnte nicht durch einfache Ansätze, wie dem Vergleich der Permeabilität mit Regenintensitäten oder der Betrachtung des Gebietsabflusses, erklärt werden. Vielmehr scheint ein komplexes Zusammenspiel aus meteorologischen, biologischen, bodenkundlichen und hydrologischen Faktoren zu wirken. So wurde die räumliche Struktur des Oberflächenabflusses im Untersuchungsgebiet vermutlich durch eine Kombination aus Landnutzungs- und Permeabilitäts-Einflüssen bedingt, zu deren Aufklärung weitere notwendige Messungen vorgeschlagen werden. Zusammengefasst konnte anhand der Permeabilität der Einfluss des Landnutzungswandels auf die hydrologischen Fließpfade gut aufgezeigt werden. Eine besondere Bedeutung kommt hierbei der Betrachtung der landnutzungsabhängigen räumlichen Struktur der Permeabilität zu. Für die Prozessaufklärung der Aktivierung lateraler Fließpfade müssen jedoch Messungen aus verschiedenen Disziplinen kombiniert werden.

The studies in this dissertation address the issue of variability in runoff generation and pollutant concentration in urban areas, and specifically in the catchments of stormwater control measures. There is an imperfect correlation between runoff volumes and the capture area and land uses of urban catchments. Variable capture areas and uncertainty in urban runoff sources complicate stormwater control measure design and urban stream assessment. Four stormwater control measures in upstream suburban Philadelphia, ranging in capture area from 0.11 ha to 32 ha, were monitored, sampled, and modeled. Sampling was conducted in the watersheds of Wissahickon Creek, Tookany Creek, and Pennypack Creek. The approaches discussed below have the goal of better understanding runoff and the movement of associated contaminants into stormwater retention basins and streams. Rather than viewing runoff generation and contaminant transport as a static process, this work proposes that the amount of runoff contributed from different areas of a catchment changes during and between storm events, and that the origin and concentration of contaminants change as a result. Linking source areas to runoff volumes through natural and modeled tracers could improve predictions of water quality and quantity in stormwater control measures in urban streams. Nitrate (NO3–) isotope ratios were used as tracer of flow from different urban land uses. Time series samples of stormwater runoff entering two stormwater control measures (a constructed wetland and a small bioretention basin) were collected and analyzed to distinguish sources of NO3– by samples’ δ15N and δ18O ratios. A Bayesian mixing model was used to determine that NO3– sources were a mix of soil nitrogen (N) and atmospheric deposition across six storm events. Furthermore, atmospheric versus soil N sources varied throughout the storms. The large catchment of the constructed wetland had more NO3– source variability between samples compared to the small catchment of the bioretention basin. Thus, the NO3– isotopes suggest more distinct flow paths in the large catchment and more mixing of flow across land uses in the small catchment. Quantifying flow path variability from storm to storm and between different catchments can improve design and placement of urban stormwater control measures. A distributed hydrologic model, GSSHA, was used to simulate overland runoff from impervious and semi-pervious land covers in the catchment of a stormwater control measure. The positions of low vegetation and impervious land uses over the catchment were rearranged to create hypothetical catchments during four storm events. Fluctuating source proportions over time suggested that grab samples might not be adequate for capturing average overland runoff chemistry. It was also found that the portion of total runoff volume from impervious areas varied from 50 to 75% while the relative proportion of impervious cover remained constant at 54%. Land use percentages averaged over capture areas are frequently used to estimate runoff amounts and pollutant concentrations, but this model disrupts the assumption that urban hydrologic responses can be predicted from imperviousness alone. Overland runoff was measured and modeled before and after the installation of two stormwater control measures, a berm and a bioswale. Discharge in the stream was modeled for 9 storms ranging in size from 14 to 54 mm. We found that during 4 of the modeled storms there was no decrease in stream discharge and decreases in discharge were generally only observed for low intensity storms. Furthermore, only 5% of the stream catchment was captured by SCMs. Modeled tracers, used to track runoff contributions from areas upslope of the SCMs found that the size of upslope contributing areas did not predict the proportion of runoff generated in each area. Field data to support the models included water level loggers and samples of overland runoff collected in subsurface stormwater casing. After the SCMs were installed, less water was captured in downslope sampling bottles, but new flow paths developed. Furthermore, significant variation was observed in upslope concentrations of dissolved nutrients and total suspended solids, casting doubt on whether point samples of urban overland runoff geochemistry can be representative given variable runoff generation and heterogeneous land uses. This study points out the challenges in evaluating stormwater control measures and reveals that source areas’ contribution to stream flow varies independently of their size. Therefore, modeling before stormwater control measure installation is recommended to determine the factors that influence a capture area’s contribution to urban streamflow. / Geoscience