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The importance of groundwater in the transportation of allochthonous dissolved organic matter to the streams draining a small mountain basin

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Abstract

The importance of groundwater in the dissolved organic matter (DOM) budget of small upland streams is not well understood. This paper is concerned with the amount of streamflow which can be attributed to groundwater, the organic chemistry of rainwater, streamwater, and groundwater, and the rate of transfer of DOM in groundwater to the streams of a small mountain catchment basin in Alberta. Using naturally occurring isotopes (18O and tritium) groundwater is concluded to be the largest contributor to stream discharge throughout the year. This means that most of the water which reaches the stream must pass through the soil column and be exposed to microbial attack. Groundwater in the Marmot Basin spends an average of about ten years in the ground before being discharged into streams. In this area it appears that the majority of DOM from forest productivity is consumed in the soil and only small amounts of refractory by-products reach the stream. This is in keeping with the finding of Fisher & Likens (1973) that 99% of forest productivity is consumed terrestrially. It is probable that bacteria in stream sediments are capable of taking up refractory compounds which deep soil bacteria can not. Increases in DOM concentration in streams are not usually observed during storm runoff because of the ability of bacteria to take up groundwater DOM and because most of stream discharge is groundwater low in DOM being flushed into the channel even during snowmelt and rainfall events.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kananaskis Centre for Environmental Research, University of Calgary, T0L 1X0, Seebe, Alberta, Canada

    P. M. Wallis & S. A. Telang

  2. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    H. B. N. Hynes

Authors
  1. P. M. Wallis
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  2. H. B. N. Hynes
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  3. S. A. Telang
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Additional information

This work was supported by a Subvention from Environment Canada, Inland Waters Directorate, and partly by an operating grant from the National Research Council of Canada.

This work was supported by a Subvention from Environment Canada, Inland Waters Directorate, and partly by an operating grant from the National Research Council of Canada.

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Wallis, P.M., Hynes, H.B.N. & Telang, S.A. The importance of groundwater in the transportation of allochthonous dissolved organic matter to the streams draining a small mountain basin. Hydrobiologia 79, 77–90 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005821

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00005821

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