Assessment of hydrological pathways in East African montane catchments under different land use

Conversion of natural forest (NF) to other land uses could lead to significant changes in catchment hydrology, but the nature of these changes has been insufficiently investigated in tropical montane catchments, especially in Africa. To address this knowledge gap, we aimed to identify stream water (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrology and earth system sciences 2018-09, Vol.22 (9), p.4981-5000
Main Authors: Jacobs, Suzanne R, Timbe, Edison, Weeser, Björn, Rufino, Mariana C, Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus, Breuer, Lutz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Analysis
Barium
Catchment area
Catchment hydrology
Catchments
Chemical precipitation
Confidence intervals
Dependence
Depth
Discharge
Flow paths
Forest soils
Forests
Groundwater
High flow
Hydrologic models
Hydrology
Influence
Isotopes
Land use
Land use effects
Low flow
Moisture content
Mountains
Parameter estimation
Pasture
Plantations
Precipitation
Rivers
Shallow wells
Soil
Soil water
Solutes
Springs (elastic)
Stable isotopes
Stream discharge
Stream water
Streamflow
Strontium
Tea
Tracers
Transit time
Travel time
Tritium
Tropical climate
Water depth
Water springs
Wetlands
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Summary:Conversion of natural forest (NF) to other land uses could lead to significant changes in catchment hydrology, but the nature of these changes has been insufficiently investigated in tropical montane catchments, especially in Africa. To address this knowledge gap, we aimed to identify stream water (RV) sources and flow paths in three tropical montane sub-catchments (27–36 km2) with different land use (natural forest, NF; smallholder agriculture, SHA; and commercial tea and tree plantations, TTP) within a 1021 km2 catchment in the Mau Forest complex, Kenya. Weekly samples were collected from stream water, precipitation (PC) and mobile soil water for 75 weeks and analysed for stable isotopes of water (δ2H and δ18O) for mean transit time (MTT) estimation with two lumped parameter models (gamma model, GM; and exponential piston flow model, EPM) and for the calculation of the young water fraction. Weekly samples from stream water and potential endmembers were collected over a period of 55 weeks and analysed for Li, Na, Mg, K, Rb, Sr and Ba for endmember mixing analysis (EMMA). Solute concentrations in precipitation were lower than in stream water in all catchments (p 
ISSN:1607-7938
1027-5606
1607-7938
DOI:10.5194/hess-22-4981-2018