Journal
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
Volume 30, Issue 17, Pages 2930-2947Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/hyp.10927
Keywords
runoff generation and regulation; ecohydrological processes; andosol and histosol; stable isotopes; tropical wetlands; wet Andean paramo
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Funding
- Central Research Office of the University of Cuenca (DIUC)
- Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation (SENESCYT) [PIC-11-715]
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Few high-elevation tropical catchments worldwide are gauged, and even fewer are studied using combined hydrometric and isotopic data. Consequently, we lack information needed to understand processes governing rainfall-runoff dynamics and to predict their influence on downstream ecosystem functioning. To address this need, we present a combination of hydrometric and water stable isotopic observations in the wet Andean paramo ecosystem of the Zhurucay Ecohydrological Observatory (7.53km(2)). The catchment is located in the Andes of south Ecuador between 3400 and 3900ma.s.l. Water samples for stable isotopic analysis were collected during 2years (May 2011-May 2013), while rainfall and runoff measurements were continuously recorded since late 2010. The isotopic data reveal that andosol soils predominantly situated on hillslopes drain laterally to histosols (Andean paramo wetlands) mainly located at the valley bottom. Histosols, in turn, feed water to creeks and small rivers throughout the year, establishing hydrologic connectivity between wetlands and the drainage network. Runoff is primarily composed of pre-event water stored in the histosols, which is replenished by rainfall that infiltrates through the andosols. Contributions from the mineral horizon and the top of the fractured bedrock are small and only seem to influence discharge in small catchments during low flow generation (non-exceedance flows
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