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Title: STREAMFLOW GENERATION ON SMALL FORESTED CENTRAL APPALACHIAN WATERSHEDS

Author
item Hicks, Naomi
item SMITH, JAMES - PRINCETON UNIV
item MILLER, ANDREW - UNIV. OF MARYLAND

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/17/2005
Publication Date: 12/5/2005
Citation: Hicks, N.S., Smith, J.A., Miller, A.J. 2005. Streamflow generation on small forested central Appalachian watersheds [abstract]. EOS Trans. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting Supplement. 86(52). Abstract H23C-1443.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: This study examines streamflow generation and extreme flood response for high-gradient, forested central Appalachian watersheds. Streamflow and rainfall observations are combined with observations from a network of 415 crest-stage piezometers on two headwater watersheds (0.30 and 0.14 km2) at the Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons, WV to examine the storm event response of forested Appalachian watersheds. Piezometer nests (piezometer depths of 25, 50, and 100 cm) were used to identify perched water tables and to distinguish between different runoff production mechanisms. A conceptual model of runoff processes in these watersheds includes the formation of localized perched water tables due to decreased macropores and increased flaggy stones with increasing depth in the soil column. This model is an extension of the variable source area. During small and moderate sized events, subsurface saturation observed in the swales supports the idea of expanding variable source areas; during extreme events, the development of perched water tables in the shallow subsurface and rapid progression of saturated conditions to the surface becomes increasingly important. Contributions from perched water tables are spatially and temporally variable and dependent upon preferential flow pathways and decreases in effective vertical hydraulic conductivity. This extension of the variable source area model of streamflow production is necessary to explain anomalously fast response times and large runoff ratios observed during extreme events on forested central Appalachian watersheds. Subsurface saturation over large portions of a watershed is infrequent in forested central Appalachian basins, but may play a central role in extreme flood response.