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Key Question: How does solute concentration (such as calcium, dissolved organic carbon, etc) changes over space and time inform our understanding of suface water/grouwater exchange and underlying critical zone structure (such as lithology) in headwater streams? How similar/different is my studied system is to other systems?
Relevance: Understanding headwater stream processes can have far reaching implications on effective watershed management for sustainable drinking water and agricultural and industrial uses
View of the Belt Creek valley on the Lewis and Clark National Forest from the north side of Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest. Keegan Peak is visible in the background.
Credit:Lance Glasgow
FFS Program Manager Colin Hardy removes debris from the Pack Creek flume at the Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest, Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, Montana. 2015
Credit: Duncan Lutes
Earth's ciritical zone is the thin veneer of earth's crust defined as the tops of trees to the bottom of bedrock. Critical zone science is concenrned with mass and energy exchanges within this zone. Credit: Chorover et al. 2007
Surface water and groundwater interface through soil, shallow aquifers and deep aquifers.
Credit: USGS Circular 1186
Background: Headwater streams make up 70-80% of total river network channel length and have an outsized impact on downstream water quantity and quality (Wohl 2017). As a result, conclusions drawn about headwater stream processes can have far reaching implications on effective watershed management for sustainable drinking water and agricultural and industrial uses. However, headwater streams are understudied due to rugged terrain and land access.
My overall PhD project seeks to untangle process-based conclusions through studying the uniquely suited Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest. The Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest (TCEF) includes 8 nested stream gaging stations on Tenderfoot creek and 5 of its headwater tributaries and is perfectly situated for asking questions about headwater stream function and connectivity. Water from Tenderfoot Creek flows into the Missouri River, which provides approximately 10 million Americans with drinking water, and is critical to agriculture, navigation and recreation.
The TCEF is characterized by topographic complexity including a variety of sub-watershed shape and sizes with varying vegetation and lithology that both complicate predictions of streamflow and represent opportunities for scientific discovery.
During summer 2013, a team of MSU researchers collected water samples at approximately 30 points in 5 creeks that flow into Tenderfoot Creek (Bergstrom 2016). Those samples were analyzed for water chemistry metrics and solutes, such as calcium, nitrates, and dissolved organic carbon that can act as tracers to determine the timing and magnitude of water flow paths into the stream, how connected streams are to groundwater, and how watershed structure influences the exchange of water between different parts of a watershed. I am studying this dataset to improve understanding of headwater stream hydrology.
Wohl, E. The significance of small streams. Front. Earth Sci. 11, 447–456 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-017-0647-y
Bergstrom, A., K. Jencso, and B. McGlynn (2016), Spatiotemporal processes that contribute to hydrologic exchange between hillslopes, valley bottoms, and streams, Water Resour. Res., 52, 4628–4645, doi:10.1002/2015WR017972.
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