Hydrological and seasonal export mechanisms for nitrate transport from a forested catchment

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science 2008-11, Vol.4 (1), p.012049-8
• Main Authors: Rusjan, S, Mikoš, M, Brilly, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biogeochemistry; Catchments; Exports; Forest soils; Forest watersheds; Hydrographs; Hydrologic regime; Hydrology; Nitrates; Rainfall; Rainfall-runoff relationships; Runoff
• ISSN: 1755-1315; 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1307/4/1/012049

Understanding of interactions between hydrological and biogeochemical responses of catchments on rainfall events is usually unclear from periodic measurements and requires tracing of the temporal dynamics of the processes. Smaller streams reflect strong connections between hydrological processes of the rainfall runoff formation and biogeochemical processes in the catchment; consequently, the responsiveness of the streamwater chemistry to changed hydrological states is very high. The study was carried out in 2007, within the 42 km2 forested Padež catchment in the southwestern part of Slovenia, which is characterized by distinctive flushing, an almost torrential hydrological regime influenced by impermeable flysch geological settings. Recorded hydrographs which, in the hydrological and biogeochemical sense, differed substantially, disclosed a highly variable, but at the same time a strong linkage between hydrological, biogeochemical and particular topographic controls of nitrate exports from the spatial perspective of a studied catchment. The role of specific hydrological events on the nitrate mobilization proved to be important as the size of the accumulated nitrate pool available for mobilization was large throughout the observed hydrographs. The biogeochemical environment of the forest soils presumably significantly affects the size of the available nitrate pool in the studied catchment.