@phdthesis{Trauth2015,
  author    = {Trauth, Nico},
  title     = {Flow and reactive transport modeling at the stream-groundwater interface},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-82748},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xv, 103},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Stream water and groundwater are important fresh water resources but their water quality is deteriorated by harmful solutes introduced by human activities. The interface between stream water and the subsurface water is an important zone for retention, transformation and attenuation of these solutes. Streambed structures enhance these processes by increased water and solute exchange across this interface, denoted as hyporheic exchange. This thesis investigates the influence of hydrological and morphological factors on hyporheic water and solute exchange as well as redox-reactions in fluvial streambed structures on the intermediate scale (10-30m). For this purpose, a three-dimensional numerical modeling approach for coupling stream water flow with porous media flow is used. Multiple steady state stream water flow scenarios over different generic pool-riffle morphologies and a natural in-stream gravel bar are simulated by a computational fluid dynamics code that provides the hydraulic head distribution at the streambed. These heads are subsequently used as the top boundary condition of a reactive transport groundwater model of the subsurface beneath the streambed. Ambient groundwater that naturally interacts with the stream water is considered in scenarios of different magnitudes of downwelling stream water (losing case) and upwelling groundwater (gaining case). Also, the neutral case, where stream stage and groundwater levels are balanced is considered. Transport of oxygen, nitrate and dissolved organic carbon and their reaction by aerobic respiration and denitrification are modeled. The results show that stream stage and discharge primarily induce hyporheic exchange flux and solute transport with implications for specific residence times and reactions at both the fully and partially submerged structures. Gaining and losing conditions significantly diminish the extent of the hyporheic zone, the water exchange flux, and shorten residence times for both the fully and partially submerged structures. With increasing magnitude of gaining or losing conditions, these metrics exponentially decrease. Stream water solutes are transported mainly advectively into the hyporheic zone and hence their influx corresponds directly to the infiltrating water flux. Aerobic respiration takes place in the shallow streambed sediments, coinciding to large parts with the extent of the hyporheic exchange flow. Denitrification occurs mainly as a "reactive fringe" surrounding the aerobic zone, where oxygen concentration is low and still a sufficient amount of stream water carbon source is available. The solute consumption rates and the efficiency of the aerobic and anaerobic reactions depend primarily on the available reactive areas and the residence times, which are both controlled by the interplay between hydraulic head distribution at the streambed and the gradients between stream stage and ambient groundwater. Highest solute consumption rates can be expected under neutral conditions, where highest solute flux, longest residence times and largest extent of the hyporheic exchange occur. The results of this thesis show that streambed structures on the intermediate scale have a significant potential to contribute to a net solute turnover that can support a healthy status of the aquatic ecosystem.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Munz2017,
  author    = {Munz, Matthias},
  title     = {Water flow and heat transport modelling at the interface between river and aquifer},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404319},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {XIII, 123},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The functioning of the surface water-groundwater interface as buffer, filter and reactive zone is important for water quality, ecological health and resilience of streams and riparian ecosystems. Solute and heat exchange across this interface is driven by the advection of water. Characterizing the flow conditions in the streambed is challenging as flow patterns are often complex and multidimensional, driven by surface hydraulic gradients and groundwater discharge. This thesis presents the results of an integrated approach of studies, ranging from the acquisition of field data, the development of analytical and numerical approaches to analyse vertical temperature profiles to the detailed, fully-integrated 3D numerical modelling of water and heat flux at the reach scale. All techniques were applied in order to characterize exchange flux between stream and groundwater, hyporheic flow paths and temperature patterns. The study was conducted at a reach-scale section of the lowland Selke River, characterized by distinctive pool riffle sequences and fluvial islands and gravel bars. Continuous time series of hydraulic heads and temperatures were measured at different depths in the river bank, the hyporheic zone and within the river. The analyses of the measured diurnal temperature variation in riverbed sediments provided detailed information about the exchange flux between river and groundwater. Beyond the one-dimensional vertical water flow in the riverbed sediment, hyporheic and parafluvial flow patterns were identified. Subsurface flow direction and magnitude around fluvial islands and gravel bars at the study site strongly depended on the position around the geomorphological structures and on the river stage. Horizontal water flux in the streambed substantially impacted temperature patterns in the streambed. At locations with substantial horizontal fluxes the penetration depths of daily temperature fluctuations was reduced in comparison to purely vertical exchange conditions. The calibrated and validated 3D fully-integrated model of reach-scale water and heat fluxes across the river-groundwater interface was able to accurately represent the real system. The magnitude and variations of the simulated temperatures matched the observed ones, with an average mean absolute error of 0.7 °C and an average Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency of 0.87. The simulation results showed that the water and heat exchange at the surface water-groundwater interface is highly variable in space and time with zones of daily temperature oscillations penetrating deep into the sediment and spots of daily constant temperature following the average groundwater temperature. The average hyporheic flow path temperature was found to strongly correlate with the flow path residence time (flow path length) and the temperature gradient between river and groundwater. Despite the complexity of these processes, the simulation results allowed the derivation of a general empirical relationship between the hyporheic residence times and temperature patterns. The presented results improve our understanding of the complex spatial and temporal dynamics of water flux and thermal processes within the shallow streambed. Understanding these links provides a general basis from which to assess hyporheic temperature conditions in river reaches.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Angermann2018,
  author    = {Angermann, Lisa},
  title     = {Hillslope-stream connectivity across scales},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-42454},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-424542},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {xix, 193},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The concept of hydrologic connectivity summarizes all flow processes that link separate regions of a landscape. As such, it is a central theme in the field of catchment hydrology, with influence on neighboring disciplines such as ecology and geomorphology. It is widely acknowledged to be an important key in understanding the response behavior of a catchment and has at the same time inspired research on internal processes over a broad range of scales. From this process-hydrological point of view, hydrological connectivity is the conceptual framework to link local observations across space and scales. This is the context in which the four studies this thesis comprises of were conducted. The focus was on structures and their spatial organization as important control on preferential subsurface flow. Each experiment covered a part of the conceptualized flow path from hillslopes to the stream: soil profile, hillslope, riparian zone, and stream. For each study site, the most characteristic structures of the investigated domain and scale, such as slope deposits and peat layers were identified based on preliminary or previous investigations or literature reviews. Additionally, further structural data was collected and topographical analyses were carried out. Flow processes were observed either based on response observations (soil moisture changes or discharge patterns) or direct measurement (advective heat transport). Based on these data, the flow-relevance of the characteristic structures was evaluated, especially with regard to hillslope to stream connectivity. Results of the four studies revealed a clear relationship between characteristic spatial structures and the hydrological behavior of the catchment. Especially the spatial distribution of structures throughout the study domain and their interconnectedness were crucial for the establishment of preferential flow paths and their relevance for large-scale processes. Plot and hillslope-scale irrigation experiments showed that the macropores of a heterogeneous, skeletal soil enabled preferential flow paths at the scale of centimeters through the otherwise unsaturated soil. These flow paths connected throughout the soil column and across the hillslope and facilitated substantial amounts of vertical and lateral flow through periglacial slope deposits. In the riparian zone of the same headwater catchment, the connectivity between hillslopes and stream was controlled by topography and the dualism between characteristic subsurface structures and the geomorphological heterogeneity of the stream channel. At the small scale (1 m to 10 m) highest gains always occurred at steps along the longitudinal streambed profile, which also controlled discharge patterns at the large scale (100 m) during base flow conditions (number of steps per section). During medium and high flow conditions, however, the impact of topography and parafluvial flow through riparian zone structures prevailed and dominated the large-scale response patterns. In the streambed of a lowland river, low permeability peat layers affected the connectivity between surface water and groundwater, but also between surface water and the hyporheic zone. The crucial factor was not the permeability of the streambed itself, but rather the spatial arrangement of flow-impeding peat layers, causing increased vertical flow through narrow "windows" in contrast to predominantly lateral flow in extended areas of high hydraulic conductivity sediments. These results show that the spatial organization of structures was an important control for hydrological processes at all scales and study areas. In a final step, the observations from different scales and catchment elements were put in relation and compared. The main focus was on the theoretical analysis of the scale hierarchies of structures and processes and the direction of causal dependencies in this context. Based on the resulting hierarchical structure, a conceptual framework was developed which is capable of representing the system's complexity while allowing for adequate simplifications. The resulting concept of the parabolic scale series is based on the insight that flow processes in the terrestrial part of the catchment (soil and hillslopes) converge. This means that small-scale processes assemble and form large-scale processes and responses. Processes in the riparian zone and the streambed, however, are not well represented by the idea of convergence. Here, the large-scale catchment signal arrives and is modified by structures in the riparian zone, stream morphology, and the small-scale interactions between surface water and groundwater. Flow paths diverge and processes can better be represented by proceeding from large scales to smaller ones. The catchment-scale representation of processes and structures is thus the conceptual link between terrestrial hillslope processes and processes in the riparian corridor.},
  language  = {en}
}