An Integrated Field Assessment of Groundwater Recharge

Groundwater recharge is often assumed to be uniform within a watershed owing to difficulties in quantifying its temporal and spatial variability. In this paper, fluctuations in soil moisture content at multiple depths in the unsaturated zone together with fluctuations in the water table are used to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe open hydrology journal Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 15 - 22
Main Author Dripps, W R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.01.2012
Subjects
Assessments
Basins
Fluctuation
Freshwater
Groundwater
Soil moisture
Temporal logic
Unsaturated
Water tables
USA, Wisconsin
USA, Wisconsin, Trout L
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Summary:Groundwater recharge is often assumed to be uniform within a watershed owing to difficulties in quantifying its temporal and spatial variability. In this paper, fluctuations in soil moisture content at multiple depths in the unsaturated zone together with fluctuations in the water table are used to provide a record of the recharge process and a means to quantify and compare temporal and spatial recharge variability. Hourly measurements of soil moisture content and the elevation of the water table were collected at two sites, a clear cut and a coniferous forest site, within the Trout Lake basin of northern Wisconsin. The soil moisture and water table data were used together to assess the temporal and spatial variability in groundwater recharge from October 1999 to May 2001 and to identify the climatic (amount and timing of rainfall) and physical (vegetation and soil type) controls on the recharge process within this basin. Together, the two datasets allow for a holistic assessment of the recharge process from the ground surface through the unsaturated zone down to the water table.
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ISSN:1874-3781
1874-3781
DOI:10.2174/1874378101206010015