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Hyporheic exchange is an ecologically and biogeochemically essential function of rivers and streams. One important driver of hydrostatic (hyporheic) exchange is gra- dients in the hydrostatic hydraulic head at the streambed. This thesis investigates the impact of discharge on hydrostatic exchange in two stream reaches in Uppland, Sweden, with different geomorphological characteristics. By comparing 1D approx- imations of hydrostatic head variations along different longitudinal profiles across the streams, the use of a 2D hydraulic model for defining such variations is evaluated. Channel topography and discharge data have been obtained through field surveys in the two streams and form the basis for the setup of two HEC-RAS 2D models. The models have been calibrated against stream-depth measurements, validated against stream depth and stream velocity, and used for simulation of a range of discharges in both reaches. Water surface elevations, obtained for the different discharges in three profiles along each reach, have been used as input in a spectral model evaluating flow across streambed area; average hyporheic exchange velocity W. The results show that W , and thereby the hydrostatic exchange, decreases with increasing dis- charge and varies between different longitudinal profiles in the reach with the most complex geomorphology. For the reach with simpler geomorphology, the effects of discharge, as well as variations across the streams, are negligible. This implies that a 1D approximation of the hydrostatic head variations at the streambed can be sat- isfactory for a stream with simple geomorphology, whereas a 2D evaluation is more accurate for a stream with a complex geomorphology. / Denna uppsats handlar om hur ett vattendrags geomorfologi (form och geologi) och vattenföring påverkar hyporheiskt utbyte. Hyporheiskt utbyte är en process där ytvat- ten tränger igenom vattendragets botten, flödar i den så kallade hyporheiska zonen och blandas med grundvatten för att sedan återvända till vattendraget. Det är en vik- tig funktion på grund av dess påverkan på ekologi och biogeokemiska reaktioner, exempelvis genom syresättning av botten. Hyporheiskt utbyte påverkas bland annat av variationer i vattnets energinivå (hydrau- lisk tryckhöjd) vid bottnen. Den hydrauliska tryckhöjden varierar med vattenytans höjd, som är summan av bottnens topografi och vattnets djup. Målet med studien var att undersöka vattenföringens påverkan på hydrostatiskt, hyporheiskt utbyte i två vattendrag med olika geomorfologiska egenskaper. Endimensionella (1D) approx- imationer av hydraulisk tryckhöjd används ibland vid modellering av hyporheiskt utbyte. Därför var ytterligare ett mål att utvärdera flera endimensionella (1D) ap- proximationer av hydraulisk tryckhöjd vid botten, för att på så sätt undersöka om tvådimensionell (2D) modellering tillför mer information. För att uppnå målen genomfördes fältstudier vid två vattendrag i Uppland, vid vilka topografimätningar och spårämnesförsök gjordes. Dessa lade grunden för uppbygg- nad av 2D-modeller över vattendragen i modelleringsverktyget HEC-RAS. Model- lerna kalibrerades mot uppmätta djupdata och användes sedan för simulering av ett antal olika vattenföringar. Longitudinella profiler placerades i mitten samt till vänster respektive höger om mitten i vattendragen. Längs dessa profiler, för de olika vatten- föringarna, erhölls vattenytans höjd, som blev indata till en spektral modell. Utifrån topografi och vattenytans höjd längs en profil beskriver den spektrala modellen hur den hydrauliska trycknivån varierar med hjälp av en Fourier-serie. Den spektrala modellen beräknar det hyporheiska utbytets medelhastighet W , vil- ken är ett mått på hur stor volym vatten som genomtränger bottenarea per tid. Re- sultaten visar att för vattendraget med mest komplex geomorfologi minskar W med ökande vattenföring, och W varierar också mellan de olika longitudinella profilerna. För det andra vattendraget, som har en enklare geomorfologi, syns inga betydande skillnader, varken mellan olika vattenföringar eller profiler. Därutöver är W mind- re för vattendraget med enklare geomorfologi jämfört med vattendraget med kom- plex geomorfologi. Resultaten antyder därmed att 1D-approximationer av hydraulisk tryckhöjd vid bottnen är tillräckliga för vattendrag med enkel geomorfologi, medan 2D-modellering tillför information för ett vattendrag med komplex geomorfologi.

River-groundwater exchange (hyporheic exchange) influences temperature, water chemistry, and ecology within rivers and alluvial aquifers. Rates and patterns of hyporheic exchange depend on riverbed permeability, pressure gradients created by current-obstacle interactions, and river stage fluctuations. I demonstrate the response of hyporheic exchange to three examples of these driving forces: fine-scale permeability structure in cross-bedded sediment, current interactions with large woody debris (LWD), and anthropogenic river stage fluctuations downstream of dams. Using numerical simulations, I show that cross-bedded permeability structure increases hyporheic path lengths and modifies solute residence times in bedforms. The tails of residence time distributions conform to a power law in both cross-bedded and internally homogeneous riverbed sediment. Current-bedform interactions are responsible for the decade-scale tails, rather than permeability heterogeneity. Like bedforms, wood debris interacts with currents and drives hyporheic exchange. Laboratory flume experiments and numerical simulations demonstrate that the amplitude of the pressure wave (and thus hyporheic exchange) due to a channel-spanning log increases with channel Froude number and blockage ratio (log diameter : flow depth). Upstream from LWD, downwelling water transports the river’s diel thermal signal deep into the sediment. Downstream, upwelling water forms a wedge of buffered temperatures. Hyporheic exchange associated with LWD does not significantly impact diel surface water temperatures. I tested these fluid and heat flow relationships in a second-order stream in Valles Caldera National Preserve (NM). Log additions created alternating zones of upwelling and downwelling in a reach that was previously losing throughout. By clearing LWD from channels, humans have reduced hydrologic connectivity at the meter-scale and contributed to degradation of benthic and hyporheic habitats. Dams also significantly alter hydrologic connectivity in modern rivers. Continuous water table measurements show that 15 km downstream of the Longhorn dam (Austin, Texas), river stage fluctuations of almost 1 m induce a large, unsteady hyporheic exchange zone within the bank. Dam-induced hyporheic exchange may impact thermal and geochemical budgets for regulated rivers. Together, these three case studies broaden our understanding of complex drivers of hyporheic exchange in small, natural streams as well as large, regulated rivers. / text

No description available.

The need to consider groundwater and surface water as a single resource has fostered the interest of the scientific community on the interactions between surface water and groundwater. The region below and alongside rivers where surface hydrology and subsurface hydrology concur is the hyporheic zone. This is the region where water exchange determines many biogeochemical and ecological processes of great impact on the functioning of rivers. However, the complex processes taking place in the hyporheic zone require a multidisciplinary approach. The combination of innovative point and distributed techniques originally developed in separated disciplines is of great advantage for the indirect identification of water exchange in the hyporheic zone. Distributed techniques using temperature as a tracer such as fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing can identify the different components of groundwater-surface water interactions based on their spatial and temporal thermal patterns at the sediment-water interface. In particular, groundwater, interflow discharge and local hyporheic exchange flows can be differentiated based on the distinct size, duration and sign of the temperature anomalies. The scale range and resolution of fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing are well complemented by geophysics providing subsurface structures with a similar resolution and scale. Thus, the use of fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing to trace flux patterns supported by the exploration of subsurface structures with geophysics enables spatial and temporal investigation of groundwater-surface water interactions with an unprecedented level of accuracy and resolution. In contrast to the aforementioned methods that can be used for pattern identification at the interface, other methods such as point techniques are required to quantify hyporheic exchange fluxes. In the present PhD thesis, point methods based on hydraulic gradients and thermal profiles are used to quantify hyporheic exchange flows. However, both methods are one-dimensional methods and assume that only vertical flow occurs while the reality is much more complex. The study evaluates the accuracy of the available methods and the factors that impact their reliability. The applied methods allow not only to quantify hyporheic exchange flows but they are also the basis for an interpretation of the sediment layering in the hyporheic zone. For upscaling of the previous results three-dimensional modelling of flow and heat transport in the hyporheic zone combines pattern identification and quantification of fluxes into a single framework. Modelling can evaluate the influence of factors governing groundwater-surface water interactions as well as assess the impact of multiple aspects of model design and calibration of high impact on the reliability of the simulations. But more importantly, this modelling approach enables accurate estimation of water exchange at any location of the domain with unparalleled resolution. Despite the challenges in 3D modelling of the hyporheic zone and in the integration of point and distributed data in models, the benefits should encourage the hyporheic community to adopt an integrative approach comprising from the measurement to the upscaling of hyporheic processes.

Periodic releases from an upstream dam cause rapid stage fluctuations in the Colorado River near Austin, Texas. These daily pulses modulate fluid exchange and residence times in the hyporheic region, where biogeochemical reactions are pronounced. We installed two transects of wells perpendicular to the river to examine in detail the reactions occurring in this zone of surface-water and groundwater exchange. One well transect recorded physical water level fluctuations and allowed us to map hydraulic head gradients and fluid movement. The second transect allowed for water sample collection at three discrete depths. Samples were collected from 12 wells every 2 hours for a 24-hour period and were analyzed for nutrients, carbon, major ions, and stable isotopes. The results provide a detailed picture of biogeochemical processes in the bank environment during low flow/drought conditions in a regulated river. Findings indicate that a pulse that causes a change in river stage of approximately 16-centimeters does not cause significant mixing in the bank. Under these conditions, the two systems act independently and exhibit only slight mixing at the interface. / text

<p>Understanding of the processes affecting solute transport in flowing water is important for the possibility to predict the evolution with time of polluted stream systems. </p><p>This thesis presents tracer experiment methodology and model developments for solute transport in streams, with special focus on retention processes and their effect on solute stream transport. Results are presented from a tracer experiment in the Säva Stream, Uppland County, Sweden, where both a conservative (³H as tritiated water) and a reactive (⁵¹Cr as trivalent chromium ion) tracer were injected simultaneously. The time and length scales of the experiment were prolonged compared to previous studies, which allowed for new critical tests of different model concepts. </p><p>It was found that the hyporheic exchange greatly affected the solute transport of both tracers. However, the retention of chromium was significantly more pronounced. About 76% of the injected chromium was lost from the stream water phase directly after the passage of the pulse 30 km downstream of the injection point. The inventory of chromium in the sediments indicated that the main part was retrieved in the hyporheic zone. </p><p>Both a diffusive and an advective hyporheic exchange model were developed and evaluated versus independent observations in the stream water and hyporheic zone. Analytical expressions for the central temporal moments of the breakthrough curve and semi-analytical solutions for the solute concentration in the Laplace domain were derived. Both models were found useful in representing the observations.</p><p>For the transport of the reactive solute, it was found essential to consider a kinetic sorption on to particulate matter in the hyporheic zone. The time needed for a wash-out of 75% of the maximum uptake in the hyporheic zone was found to be ~85 times longer for the reactive solute, compared to the conservative solute. Neglecting the sorption kinetics in the transport model yielded significant errors in the central temporal moments, which implied an incorrect description of the wash-out process from the hyporheic zone. Independent observations in the stream water and hyporheic zone as well as choice of evaluation method are essential for a correct interpretation of the processes.</p><p>A first attempt was also made to link model parameters such as the residence time in the hyporheic zone with measurable parameters of the stream. Such a relationship offers the possibility to generalize results for other streams and stream conditions. A generic study of the transport of an inert solute in the Lule River, Sweden, using this kind of relationship, indicated that the hyporheic exchange can have a large practical implication.</p>

Understanding of the processes affecting solute transport in flowing water is important for the possibility to predict the evolution with time of polluted stream systems. This thesis presents tracer experiment methodology and model developments for solute transport in streams, with special focus on retention processes and their effect on solute stream transport. Results are presented from a tracer experiment in the Säva Stream, Uppland County, Sweden, where both a conservative (3H as tritiated water) and a reactive (51Cr as trivalent chromium ion) tracer were injected simultaneously. The time and length scales of the experiment were prolonged compared to previous studies, which allowed for new critical tests of different model concepts. It was found that the hyporheic exchange greatly affected the solute transport of both tracers. However, the retention of chromium was significantly more pronounced. About 76% of the injected chromium was lost from the stream water phase directly after the passage of the pulse 30 km downstream of the injection point. The inventory of chromium in the sediments indicated that the main part was retrieved in the hyporheic zone. Both a diffusive and an advective hyporheic exchange model were developed and evaluated versus independent observations in the stream water and hyporheic zone. Analytical expressions for the central temporal moments of the breakthrough curve and semi-analytical solutions for the solute concentration in the Laplace domain were derived. Both models were found useful in representing the observations. For the transport of the reactive solute, it was found essential to consider a kinetic sorption on to particulate matter in the hyporheic zone. The time needed for a wash-out of 75% of the maximum uptake in the hyporheic zone was found to be ~85 times longer for the reactive solute, compared to the conservative solute. Neglecting the sorption kinetics in the transport model yielded significant errors in the central temporal moments, which implied an incorrect description of the wash-out process from the hyporheic zone. Independent observations in the stream water and hyporheic zone as well as choice of evaluation method are essential for a correct interpretation of the processes. A first attempt was also made to link model parameters such as the residence time in the hyporheic zone with measurable parameters of the stream. Such a relationship offers the possibility to generalize results for other streams and stream conditions. A generic study of the transport of an inert solute in the Lule River, Sweden, using this kind of relationship, indicated that the hyporheic exchange can have a large practical implication.

No description available.

No description available.