Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Nutrient dynamics in river bed sediments: effects of hydrological disturbances using experimental flow manipulations

  • SEDMENTS, SEC 2 • PHYSICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES • RESEARCH ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

River sediments play a crucial role in the storage and transformation of organic matter (OM). Nutrient dynamics are controlled by the interaction of several key parameters, i.e. river discharge, channel geometry and vertical exchanges of water (upwelling vs. downwelling zones). The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of channel forms and discharge variation on nutrient spiralling in the hyporheic zone (HZ) of streams.

Materials and methods

Four experimental flow manipulations (EFM) were carried out at two reaches with different channel forms (straight vs. sinuous) in an oligotrophic subtropical river in Australia. Flow manipulation consisted of reducing the river width with a temporary dam, diverting and concentrating the main water flux on two different geomorphological units (riffle vs. gravel bar), in order to simulate flooding conditions. Hyporheic waters were analysed for their physicochemical characteristics and nutrient (nitrates + nitrites = NO x and soluble reactive phosphorus [SRP]) and OM contents at two depths (10 and 50 cm) within the bed sediments, both upstream and downstream of the geomorphological units.

Results and discussion

The physicochemical parameters clearly demonstrated the existence of hyporheic flow paths, characterized by the alternation of downwelling and upwelling areas, with more consistent gradients in gravel bars than in riffles. The HZ acted as source for NO x and SRP, but this role varied between geomorphological units and reaches. The effect of EFM differed between sampling points, irrespective of the type of geomorphological unit. In gravel bars, a flush out during high discharge was observed for NO x , SRP and particulate organic matter (POM) at the sinuous channel, whereas storage and removal were recorded at the straight channel for SRP and NO x , respectively. At the riffle of the sinuous channel, very fine POM accumulated, while removal was noticed for POM. In contrast, at the riffle of the straight channel, SRP accumulated in the HZ and NO x was removed out of the HZ.

Conclusions

Nutrient dynamics in the HZ and the response to flow increases were not governed by the geomorphological unit type. Other parameters that determine water residence time in the sediments, such as local heterogeneity in sediment characteristics (grain size, porosity and hydraulic conductivity), channel sinuosity, reach slope and the size and form of the gravel bar, may be more significant explanatory variables for understanding OM and nutrient dynamics in the HZ. This study emphasizes the need for caution in making generalisations about the role of river sediment in nutrient storage and the impact of floods on nutrient dynamics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anbutsu K, Nakajima T, Takemon Y, Tanida K, Goto N, Mitamura O (2006) Distribution of biogeochemical compounds in interstitial and surface standing water bodies in the gravel bar of the Kizu River, Japan. Arch Hydrobiol 166:145–167

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baker MA, Vervier P (2004) Hydrologic variability, organic matter supply and denitrification in the Garonne River ecosystem. Freshwater Biol 49:181–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bates PD (2004) Remote sensing and flood inundation modelling. Hydrol Process 18:2593–2597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Battin TJ, Kaplan LA, Newbold JD, Hendricks SP (2003) A mixing model analysis of stream solute dynamics and the contribution of a hyporheic zone to ecosystem function. Freshwater Biol 48:995–1014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baxter C, Hauer FR, Woessner WW (2003) Measuring groundwater–stream water exchange: new techniques for installing minipiezometers and estimating hydraulic conductivity. T Am Fish Soc 132:493–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boulton AJ, Foster JG (1998) Effects of buried leaf litter and vertical hydrologic exchange on hyporheic water chemistry and fauna in a gravel-bed river in northern New South Wales, Australia. Freshwater Biol 40:229–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boulton AJ, Valett HM, Fisher SG (1992) Spatial distribution and taxonomic composition of the hyporheos of several Sonoran Desert streams. Arch Hydrobiol 125:37–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulton AJ, Findlay S, Marmonier P, Stanley EH, Valett HM (1998) The functional significance of the hyporheic zone in streams and rivers. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 29:59–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bunn SE, Arthington AH (2002) Basic principles and ecological consequences of altered flow regimes for aquatic biodiversity. Environ Manage 30:492–507

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butturini A, Sabater F (1999) Importance of transient storage zones for ammonium and phosphate retention in a sandy-bottom Mediterranean stream. Freshwater Biol 41:593–603

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cardenas MB, Wilson JL, Zlotnik VA (2004) Impact of heterogeneity, bed forms, and stream curvature on subchannel hyporheic exchange. Water Resour Res 40:W08307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carlyle GC, Hill AR (2001) Groundwater phosphate dynamics in a river riparian zone: effects of hydrologic flowpaths, lithology and redox chemistry. J Hydrol 247:151–168

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Claret C, Boulton AJ (2009) Integrating complex field hydraulic conductivity with biogeochemical gradients and microbial activity along river–groundwater exchange zones in a subtropical stream. Hydrogeol J 17:151–160

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Claret C, Marmonier P, Boissier JM, Fontvieille D, Blanc P (1997) Nutrient transfer between parafluvial interstitial water and river water: influence of gravel bar heterogeneity. Freshwater Biol 37:657–670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Claret C, Marmonier P, Bravard JP (1998) Seasonal dynamics of nutrient and biofilm in interstitial habitats of two contrasting riffles in a regulated large river. Aquat Sci 60:33–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creuzé des Châtelliers M, Dole-Olivier MJ (1991) Limites d’utilisation du sondage de type Bou-Rouch pour la capture de la faune interstitielle. (I) traçage chimique au chlorure de sodium. C R Acad Sci 312:671–676

    Google Scholar 

  • Creuzé des Châtelliers M, Poinsart D, Bravard JP (1994) Geomorphology of alluvial groundwater ecosystems. In: Gibert J, Danielopol D, Stanford JA (eds) Groundwater ecology. Academic, San Diego, pp 158–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Datry T, Larned ST (2008) River flow controls ecological processes and invertebrate assemblages in subsurface flowpaths of an ephemeral river reach. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 65:1532–1544

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dahm CN, Grimm NB, Marmonier P, Valett HM, Vervier P (1998) Nutrient dynamics at the interface between surface waters and ground waters. Freshwater Biol 40:427–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deforet T, Marmonier P, Rieffel D, Crini N, Giraudoux P, Gilbert D (2009) Do parafluvial zones have an impact in regulating river pollution? Spatial and temporal dynamics of nutrients, carbon, and bacteria in a large gravel bar of the Doubs River (France). Hydrobiologia 623:235–250

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dent CL, Grimm NB, Fisher SG (2001) Multiscale effects of surface–subsurface exchange on stream water nutrient concentrations. J N Am Bentholl Soc 20:162–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duff JH, Triska FJ (2000) Nitrogen biogeochemistry and surface–subsurface exchange in stream. In: Jones JB, Mulholland PJ (eds) Streams and ground waters. Academic, San Diego, pp 197–220

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SG, Grimm NB, Marti E, Holmes RM, Jones JB (1998) Material spiraling in stream corridors: a telescoping ecosystem model. Ecosystems 1:19–34

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SG, Sponseller RA, Heffernan JB (2004) Horizons in stream biogeochemistry: flowpaths to progress. Ecology 85:2369–2379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher SG, Heffernan JB, Sponseller RA, Welter JR (2007) Functional ecomorphology: feedbacks between form and function in fluvial landscape ecosystems. Geomorphology 89:84–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grashoff K, Ehrhardt M, Kremling K (1983) Methods of seawater analysis, 2nd edn. Verlag Chemie, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Hancock PJ, Boulton AJ (2005) The effects of an environmental flow release on water quality in the hyporheic zone of the Hunter River, Australia. Hydrobiologia 552:75–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hendricks SP (1993) Microbial ecology of the hyporheic zone: a perspective integrating hydrology and biology. J N Am Bentholl Soc 12:70–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendricks SP, White DS (2000) Streams and groundwater influences on phosphorus biogeochemistry. In: Jones JB, Mulholland PJ (eds) Streams and ground waters. Academic, San Diego, pp 221–235

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hester ET, Doyle MW (2008) In-stream geomorphic structures as drivers of hyporheic exchange. Water Resour Res 44:W03417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones JB (1997) Benthic organic matter storage in streams: influence of detrital import and export, retention mechanisms, and climate. J N Am Bentholl Soc 16:109–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones JB, Holmes RM (1996) Surface–subsurface interactions in stream ecosystems. Trends Ecol Evol 11:239–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones JB, Fisher SG, Grimm NB (1995) Vertical hydrologic exchange and ecosystem metabolism in a Sonoran Desert stream. Ecology 76:942–952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasahara T, Hill AR (2006) Effects of riffle-step restoration on hyporheic zone chemistry in N-rich lowland streams. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 63:120–133

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kasahara T, Hill AR (2007) Instream restoration: its effects on lateral stream–subsurface water exchange in urban and agricultural streams in southern Ontario. River Res Applic 23:801–814

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellerhals R, Bray DI (1971) Sampling procedures for coarse fluvial sediments. J Hydr Eng Div-ASCE 97:1165–1180

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamberti GA, Gregory SV (2006) CPOM transport, retention, and measurement. In: Hauer FR, Lamberti GA (eds) Methods in stream ecology, 2nd edn. Academic, San Diego, pp 273–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre S, Marmonier P, Pinay G, Bour O, Aquilina L, Baudry J (2005) Nutrient dynamics in interstitial habitats of low-order rural streams with different bedrock geology. Arch Hydrobiol 164:169–191

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre S, Marmonier P, Peiry JL (2006) Nitrogen dynamics in rural streams: differences between geomorphologic units. Ann Limnol - Int J Lim 42:43–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marmonier P, Dole M-J (1986) Les Amphipodes des sédiments d’un bras court-circuité du Rhône. Logique de répartition et réactions aux crues. Revue des Sciences de l’Eau 5:461–486

    Google Scholar 

  • Marmonier P, Fontvieille D, Gibert J, Vanek V (1995) Distribution of dissolved organic carbon and bacteria at the interface between the Rhône River and its alluvial aquifer. J N Am Bentholl Soc 14:382–392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minshall GW, Thomas SA, Newbold JD, Monaghan MT, Cushing CE (2000) Physical factors influencing fine organic particle transport and deposition in streams. J N Am Bentholl Soc 19:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouw JEB, Stanford JA, Alaback PB (2009) Influences of flooding and hyporheic exchange on floodplain plant richness and productivity. River Res Applic 25:929–945

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulholland PJ, Marzolf ER, Webster JR, Hart DR, Hendricks SP (1997) Evidence of hyporheic retention of phosphorus in Walker Branch. Limnol Oceanogr 42:443–451

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Naegeli MW, Uehlinger U (1997) Contribution of the hyporheic zone to ecosystem metabolism in a prealpine gravel-bed river. J N Am Bentholl Soc 16:794–804

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opdyke MR, David MB, Rhoads BL (2006) Influence of geomorphological variability in channel characteristics on sediment denitrification in agricultural streams. J Environ Qual 35:2103–2112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Orghidan T (1959) Ein neuer Lebensraum des unterirdischen Wassers: Der hyporheische Biotop. Arch Hydrobiol 55:392–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Packman AI, Brooks NH, Morgan JJ (2000) A physicochemical model for colloid exchange between a stream and a sand streambed with bed forms. Water Resour Res 36:2351–2361

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL, Zimmerman KH (2010) Ecological responses to altered flow regimes: a literature review to inform the science and management of environmental flows. Freshwater Biol 55:194–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL, Allan JD, Bain MB, Karr JR, Prestegaard KL, Richter B, Sparks R, Stromberg J (1997) The natural flow regime: a new paradigm for riverine conservation and restoration. Bio Sci 47:769–784

    Google Scholar 

  • Poff NL, Richter B, Arthington AH, Bunn SE, Naiman RJ, Kendy E, Acreman M, Apse C, Bledsoe BP, Freeman M, Henriksen J, Jacobson RB, Kennen J, Merritt DM, O’Keeffe J, Olden JD, Rogers K, Tharme RE, Warner A (2010) The Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA): a new framework for developing regional environmental flow standards. Freshwater Biol 55:147–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poole GC (2010) Stream hydrogeomorphology as a physical science basis for advances in stream ecology. J N Am Bentholl Soc 29:12–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Poole GC, Stanford JA, Running SW, Frissell CA (2006) Multiscale geomorphic drivers of groundwater flow paths: subsurface hydrologic dynamics and hyporheic habitat diversity. J N Am Bentholl Soc 25:288–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pretty JL, Hildrew AG, Trimmer M (2006) Nutrient dynamics in relation to surface–subsurface hydrological exchange in a groundwater fed chalk stream. J Hydrol 330:84–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pusch M (1996) The metabolism of organic matter in the hyporheic zone of a mountain stream, and its spatial distribution. Hydrobiologia 323:107–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2007) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. Available at http://www.r-project.org. Accessed 27 August 2009

  • Richter BD, Mathews R, Harrison DL, Wigington R (2003) Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecol Appl 13:206–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rulik M (2000) Distribution of organic carbon (TOC) and organic nitrogen (TON) in small grain size mobile hyporheic sediments (Sitka stream, Czech Republic). Pol Arch Hydrobiol 47:305–313

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rulik M, Zavrelova P, Duchoslav M (2001) Decomposition of two different POM types in surface water and within hyporheic sediments of a small lowland stream (Sitka, Czech Republic). Int Rev Hydrobiol 86:487–500

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smock LA (1990) Spatial and temporal variation in organic matter storage in low-gradient, headwater streams. Arch Hydrobiol 118:169–184

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sobczak WV, Findlay S (2002) Variation in bioavailability of dissolved organic carbon among stream hyporheic flowpaths. Ecology 83:3194–3209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sterba O, Uvira V, Mathur P, Rulik M (1992) Variations of the hyporheic zone through a riffle in the R. Morava, Czechoslovakia. Regul River 7:31–43

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tonina D, Buffington JM (2007) Hyporheic exchange in gravel bed rivers with pool-riffle morphology: laboratory experiments and three-dimensional modelling. Water Resour Res 43:W01421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tonina D, Buffington JM (2011) Effects of stream discharge, alluvial depth and bar amplitude on hyporheic flow in pool-riffle channels. Water Resour Res 47:W08508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triska FJ, Duff JH, Avanzino RJ (1993) The role of water exchange between a stream channel and its hyporheic zone in nitrogen cycling at the terrestrial–aquatic interface. Hydrobiologia 251:167–184

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Valett HM (1993) Surface-hyporheic interactions in a Sonoran Desert stream: hydrologic exchange and diel periodicity. Hydrobiologia 259:133–144

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Valett HM, Fisher SG, Grimm NB, Camill P (1994) Vertical hydrologic exchange and ecological stability of a desert stream ecosystem. Ecology 75:548–560

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vervier P, Bonvallet-Garay S, Sauvage S, Valett HM, Sanchez-Perez JM (2009) Influence of the hyporheic zone on the phosphorus dynamics of a large gravel-bed river, Garonne River, France. Hydrol Process 23:1801–1812

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Webster JR, Benfield EF, Ehrman TP, Schaeffer MA, Tank JL, Hutchens JJ, D’Angelo DJ (1999) What happens to allochthonous material that falls into streams? A synthesis of new and published information from Coweeta. Freshwater Biol 41:687–705

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White DS (1993) Perspectives on defining and delineating hyporheic zones. J N Am Bentholl Soc 12:61–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wondzell SM, Swanson FJ (1996) Seasonal and storm dynamics of the hyporheic zone of a 4th-order mountain stream. I: hydrologic processes. J N Am Benthol Soc 15:3–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wondzell SM, Swanson FJ (1999) Floods, channel change and the hyporheic zone. Water Resour Res 35:355–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood PJ, Boulton AJ, Little S, Stubbington R (2010) Is the hyporheic zone a refugium for aquatic macroinvertebrates during severe low flow conditions? Fundam Appl Limnol Arch Hydrobiol 176(4):377–390

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We warmly thank A. Boulton for the contribution in this study, experimental design, organisation of the fieldwork and valuable discussions. Financial support was provided by the French and Australian Research Councils (CNRS and ARC). One of us (C.M.) was funded by the French National Research Agency ‘InBioProcess’ project (ANR-06-BDIV-007-InBioProcess 2007–2010). We also thank the reviewers and submission editor whose comments and suggestions greatly improved an early version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lyon, UMR5023 LEHNA, Université Lyon 1, ENTPE, CNRS, 6 rue Raphaël Dubois,, 69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Chafik Maazouzi, Marie-José Dole-Olivier & Pierre Marmonier

  2. Institut Méditerranéen d’Ecologie et de Paléoécologie (IMEP, UMR-CNRS 6116), Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III (Case 441), 13397, Marseille Cedex 20, France

    Chafik Maazouzi & Cécile Claret

Authors
  1. Chafik Maazouzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cécile Claret
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Marie-José Dole-Olivier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pierre Marmonier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chafik Maazouzi.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Ellen L. Petticrew

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Maazouzi, C., Claret, C., Dole-Olivier, MJ. et al. Nutrient dynamics in river bed sediments: effects of hydrological disturbances using experimental flow manipulations. J Soils Sediments 13, 207–219 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-012-0622-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-012-0622-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation