A numerical study of bank storage and its contribution to streamflow

Floodplains mitigate against extreme annual hydrologic phenomena by storing substantial volumes of water which would otherwise increase flood volumes. Later floodplains gradually release this water which serves to maintain baseflows. This phenomenon, called bank storage, has important physical and e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hydrology (Amsterdam) 1997-12, Vol.202 (1-4), p.121-136
Main Authors: Whiting, Peter J, Pomeranets, Mikhail
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alluvial aquifers
aquifers
Discharge
Ground water
groundwater
Storage
Surface water
Water resources
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Floodplains mitigate against extreme annual hydrologic phenomena by storing substantial volumes of water which would otherwise increase flood volumes. Later floodplains gradually release this water which serves to maintain baseflows. This phenomenon, called bank storage, has important physical and ecological ramifications which in addition to reducing flood peaks, include sustaining riparian vegetation and improving water quality. We developed a model of bank storage based upon the earlier work of Neuman and Witherspoon (Wat. Resour. Res., 6 (1990) 889, 1376; 7 (1971) 611). This model (WaTab2D) treats the flow of water through floodplain soils for a general two-dimensional case: non-symmetrical valleys, non-symmetrical channel banks, non-uniform hydraulic geometry and non-zero boundary fluxes. The total volume that can potentially be released from bank storage is nearly proportional to the width of the floodplain, the height of the bank, and the specific yield; the duration over which water is released from bank storage increases with increasing floodplain width and decreases with hydraulic conductivity. Drainage of water from the floodplain with a drop in channel water level occurs over a period of days in gravel, weeks to a few years in sand, years in silt, and decades in clay. The rate of drainage decreases in an exponential-like manner.
ISSN:0022-1694
1879-2707
DOI:10.1016/S0022-1694(97)00064-4