Subsurface Water Flow in the Multi-Layered Hillslope

Hillslope subsurface flow similarity: Real-world tests of the hillslope Péclet number

[1] Similarity analysis offers the ability to model hydrological response using quantifiable landscape descriptors. It is possible to develop similarity indices based on analytical solutions to the governing dynamic equations (Brutsaert, 2005). Berne et al. (2005) provide derivation of such a similarity index (the hillslope Péclet number) of subsurface flow and saturation for hillslopes with ex...

A One-Dimensional Model of Subsurface Hillslope Flow

Vectors of subsurface stormflow in a layered hillslope during runoff initiation

The focus is the experimental assessment of insitu flow vectors in a hillslope soil. We selected a 100 m2 trenched hillslope study site. During prescribed sprinkling an obliquely installed TDR wave-guide provides for the velocity of the wetting front in its direction. A triplet of wave-guides mounted along the sides of an hypothetical tetrahedron, with its peak pointing down, produces a three-d...

Base cation concentrations in subsurface flow from a forested hillslope: The role of flushing frequency

A 20-m-wide trench was excavated to bedrock on a hillslope at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed in the Piedmont region of Georgia to determine the effect of upslope drainage area from the soil and bedrock surfaces on the geochemical evolution of base cation concentrations in subsurface flow. Samples were collected from ten 2-m sections and five natural soil pipes during three winter rainst...

Connectivity due to preferential flow controls water flow and solute transport at the hillslope scale

Understanding the major controls on water flow and solute transport at the hillslope scale remains a major topic of research despite numerous hillslope experiments at different sites around the world. For example, the influence of lateral preferential flow due to pipes or macropores in the subsurface flow is still unresolved. Experiments show the often paradoxical finding of fast entry of event...