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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

A Comparison of Soil Moisture and Hillslope-Stream Connectivity Between Aspen and Conifer-Dominated Hillslopes of a First Order Catchment in Northern Utah

Burke, Amy R. 01 December 2009 (has links)
Mountain headwater catchments in the semi-arid Intermountain West are important sources of surface water because these high elevations receive more precipitation than neighboring lowlands. The hydrology of these mountain catchments is especially important as the region faces water shortages and conflicts. Conifer encroachment on aspen stands has been observed across the western US and can result in a decline in water yield. The overall objective of this study was to further our understanding of hillslope-stream connectivity in a headwater catchment of Northern Utah and any observable differences in this connection between aspen and conifer hillslopes. Hillslopes are the fundamental unit of a watershed. Therefore understanding processes at the hillslope scale is pertinent to managing valuable water resources. However, hillslope hydrology is understudied in the snow-driven, semi-arid west, leaving a gap in our knowledge of how watersheds function. This thesis focuses on how and when hillslope water contributes to stream water: hillslope-stream connectivity. Its specific objectives are (1) to compare peak snow accumulation under aspen and conifer stands, (2) to determine if shallow soil moisture shows organized patterns, indicating hillslope-connectivity and compare these patterns between vegetation types, (3) to examine hillslope-stream connectivity within deep layers of the soil profile and compare times of connectivity between vegetation types and (4) to find any thresholds past which hillslope-stream connectivity begins.

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