quantifying the spatial variations of hyporheic water exchange at...

Research ArticleQuantifying the Spatial Variations of Hyporheic WaterExchange at Catchment Scale Using the Thermal MethodA Case Study in the Weihe River China

Junlong Zhang1 Jinxi Song12 Yongqing Long1 Yan Zhang1 Bo Zhang1

Yuqi Wang3 and YuanyuanWang1

1College of Urban and Environmental Sciences Northwest University Xirsquoan 710127 China2State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau Institute of Soil and Water ConservationChinese Academy of Sciences Yangling 712100 China3Fenner School of Environmental and Society Australian National University Canberra ACT 2601 Australia

Correspondence should be addressed to Jinxi Song jinxisongnwueducn

Received 8 January 2017 Accepted 2 March 2017 Published 21 March 2017

Academic Editor Xiaofeng Li

Copyright copy 2017 Junlong Zhang et alThis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licensewhich permits unrestricted use distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited

Understanding the dynamics of hyporheic water exchange (HWE) has been limited by the hydrological heterogeneity at largecatchment scale The thermal method has been widely used to understand water exchange patterns in a hyporheic zoneThis studywas conducted in the Weihe River catchment in Shaanxi Province China A conceptual model was developed to determine watertransfer patterns and a one-dimensional heat diffusion-advection equation was employed to estimate vertical fluxes of ten differentsegments in the hyporheic zone in various ten segments of the catchment The amount of water exchange varied from 7847mmdto 2366mmd and a decreasing trend from the upstream to downstream of catchment was observed The spatial correlation ofvariability between the water exchange and distance is 062 The results indicate that mountainrsquos topography trend is the primarydriver influencing the distribution of river tributaries and the water exchange amount has a decreasing trend from upstream todownstream of the main river channel

1 Introduction

A hyporheic zone is an active ecotone which connects thesurface water and groundwater [1] It is characterized by thehydrological chemical biological [2] hydrogeological [3]and biogeochemical features [4] Studies of hyporheic zoneshave been significantly increased in recent years (Figure 1)

Water exchange is a fundamental interest in the energytransport of a hyporheic zone [5] That is associated withthe substantial transient including heat and dissolved andsuspended substances as well as physicochemical processes[1 6 7]The spatiality of water exchange at the stream-aquiferinterface has important implications for the fate and trans-port of contaminants in river basins [8]Therefore hyporheicwater exchange (HWE) provides hydrogeological informa-tion about the interactions between groundwater and surfacegroundwater whose function is crucial to the overall riverineecosystem

However the interaction between groundwater and sur-face water has been regarded as two distinct entities andfocused on the distinction of within system and inner singleobjects for a long period [9] In reality interactions in thiszone are more complex and have the importance of thewater quality [10 11] This process is influenced by the spatialvariation of hydrologic conditions such as topographic reliefand regional scale [12] An accurate estimate of HWE atcatchment scale is challenging in terms of hydrologicalheterogeneity [1 13ndash15] Therefore the new sight to couplegroundwater and surface water as an integrated system toestimate the water exchange is essential for the managementof fluvial and lotic systems

Numerous methods have been used to assess streamand groundwater interaction [16] They can be classifiedinto seepagemeters hydrological elements numericalmodelremote sensing and tracer method The bag-type seepagemeter has been widely used to estimate water exchange in

HindawiAdvances in MeteorologyVolume 2017 Article ID 6159325 8 pageshttpsdoiorg10115520176159325

2 Advances in Meteorology

0102030405060708090

100110120

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Figure 1 Number of citations of papers on hyporheic zone since 1997 based on a search in the ISI Web of Science(httpappswebofknowledgecomCitationReportdoproduct=UAampsearch mode=CitationReportampSID=Z2Y7ku9pWciBC3oHJF3amppage=1ampcr pqid=3ampviewType=summary)

lakes estuaries reservoirs and streams [17] But the seepagemeterrsquos success has been limited by operational problemsduring field work [18] Water velocity can be deducted usingsolute travel time and distance dataThe relationship betweenwater temperature and the water velocity has been usedto calculate the water exchange from the groundwater intostreams [13] The application of contaminants modeling hasdeveloped the theory and simulation technique [19 20]Remote sensing provides the new approach to investigate thewater exchange [21] New technologies are increasingly usedtomeasureHWEsuch as distributed temperature sensing [2223] The tracer method such as calcium chloride salt anddye has frequently been used to estimate the water exchangein hyporheic zone [16] Heat as a natural tracer has been usedto simulate HWE owing to temperature distribution on theone hand it is the result of heat conduction in the subsurfacebut also it is the consequence of the advection movement ofwater through the porous medium [24] Hence water fluxesbetween groundwater and surface water can be estimated bymeasuring temperature distributions within the coupled sys-tems [25 26] However studies using heat as awater exchangeestimator have mainly measured temperature within a singlestream or in one segment of a river The water exchange in ahyporheic zone at catchment scale is poorly understood andneeds further investigation Moreover for the Weihe Riverwhich is long and crosses different topographic classes inter-actions between the surface water and groundwater in themainstream channel and its tributaries have been relativelyunknown

Using heat as a tracer to investigate HWE in the WeiheRiver extends the application of the thermal method tothe catchment scale The principal foci of this study are toinvestigate thewater exchange across the large basin scale andfind the relationship between the exchange and the spatialdistribution of rivers The objectives of the paper are (1)to detect patterns of water exchange in the hyporheic zone(2) to quantify the rate of hyporheic water exchange and(3) to describe the spatial variability of HWE at catchmentscale

Table 1 Testing sites and the abbreviations in this study

Testing site Meixian Xirsquoan Lintong Huaxian HengshuiheAbbreviation MX XA LT HX HSHTesting site Heihe Laohe Juehe Tangyuhe BeiluoheAbbreviation HH LH JH TYH BLH

2 Study Area Description

As the largest tributary of the Yellow River the Weihe Riverplays a vital role inwater supply and agricultural developmentin Guanzhong BasinTheWeihe River originates fromGansuProvince China from where it flows eastward throughShaanxi Province and at Tongguanxian in the east of ShaanxiProvince it merges into the Yellow River The river has atotal length of 818 km and a drainage area of 134 times 104 km2The whole river has a longitudinal inclination of about 17permilThe drainage area and transportation of the sediments of thisriver account for 179 and 25 for the Yellow River [27]respectively The Weihe River flows along the northern Qin-lingMountains in Shaanxi Province which have an altitude of1500ndash3000m

Ten study sites across catchment were chosen for thisstudy (Figure 2) Four sites are located along the mainchannel while the rest of the tributaries are secondaryand tertiary rivers The Beiluo River is the largest tributaryof the Weihe River Some sites allocated in the southerntributaries are stemmed from Qinling Mountains The cli-mate and vegetation are distinctive on north and southsides loess has preserved well on the eastern side [28]Table 1 lists the testing sites and abbreviations in thisstudy At those sites the components of the deposits alongthe study bank differ from fluvial sand silt clay coarse-grained sediments and gravels During annual flood peri-ods which occur in late autumn the river carries abouttwo to three times more water than the average meanrecharge

Advances in Meteorology 3

Baoji City

LaoheHeihe

XianLintong

Meixian

Hengshuihe

(Km)

the

Weihe

River

Flow

Test sitesRivers

High 3754

Low 206

0 5 10 20 30 40

E

S

W

N

Tongchuan City

Xianyang City

Tangyuhe

Huaxian

Weinan City

Beiluo

Shangluo CityJuehe

Xian City

Elevation in meters

(a) (b)

(c)

Figure 2 Location map of testing sites in this study

3 Methods

31 Sediment Temperatures Collection The measurementswere taken during the summer of 2013 A two-meter thermalbar with a small flat plate at the upper end and a pointedtip at the bottom end (Figure 3) was utilized to measuresediments temperature This design allows the thermistorto be inserted into the sediment easily Measurements ofstreambed temperature were collected at multiple depths ateach location (various depths 0 01 02 035 05 and 07m)the data were collected 15 minutes after the temperature keptstable and then temperature profiles in the hyporheic zonewere plotted

Measurement of the sediment temperature was carriedout along one side of the riverbankThus the field points wereallocated to a relatively shallow area of the river The distanceinterval between each point was about 10 metersThere was arange of around 15-meter distance away from the bank sideof the river (Figure 3)

Hyp

orhe

ic zo

ne

Thermistor

Surface water

Bank

Figure 3 Collection of the temperature data along one side of theriver

32 Water Exchange Modeling The transportation of energyin the hyporheic zone involves sediment conductivities andwater percolation [24] Assuming the sediment has uniform


distribution and the water exchanges only occur in a verticaldirection (upward or downward) the one-dimensional ther-mal equation can be used to calculate the water transfer asfollows [29]

119870

120588119888

1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

120588119888

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911=120597119879 (119911)

120597119905 (1)

where V is vertical water exchange in the sediments at depth119911 (mmd) 119879(119911) is the temperature (∘C) of the streambedsediments at 119911-depth and 120588119888 and 120588

01198880are the volumetric heat

capacity of saturated streambed system (Jmminus3Kminus1) and thevolumetric heat capacity of the fluid (Jmminus3Kminus1) respectivelyMoreover 119870 is the thermal conductivity of the solid-fluidsystem (J sminus1mminus1 Kminus1)

In thermal steady-state conditions the right-hand of (1)tends to 0 and can be written as follows [18]

1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

119870

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911= 0 (2)

With the assumption that there is a quasi-constantgroundwater temperature at depth and assuming the bound-ary conditions 119879 = 119879

0for 119911 = 0 and a fixed temperature

119879119871for 119911 = 119871 the temperature profile can be fitted by

the analytical steady-state solution of one-dimensional heattransport equation [24] then the solution of Eq (2) can bewritten as

V =10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816

119870

12058801198880119911ln 119879 (119911) minus 1198791198711198790minus 119879119871

10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816(3)

Using this equation to quantify the vertical water exchangeV (mmd) the performance of this method has the followingadvantages (1) it can be used with relatively small data (2) ithas high measurement efficiency in the field work [14] (3) itwas a steady-state thermal-flux model [18] Considering thecost of data measurements in many locations the ten sitesacross the large basin can provide catchment scale benefits

33 Determination of Hyporheic Water Exchange PatternsHWE patterns can be illustrated using a conceptually simpli-fied diagram (Figure 4) The line ldquo(a)rdquo indicates the upwardflux into the surface water the line ldquo(b)rdquo shows the downwardflux into the groundwater The details of the conceptualdiagram were described in some previous studies [18 26]

4 Results

41 Sediment Temperatures The statistical analyses of thetemperatures at different testing sites are shown in Fig-ure 5 For the ten investigated sites the maximum and theminimum temperatures of the sediment are 33∘C and 182respectively The difference between the highest and lowest is148∘CThe average temperature difference between the upperlayer and the deepest layer is 4∘C The maximum residual ofthe stratification sediment is 25∘C and the minimum of theresidual is 007∘C

The average temperature of the deposits in the upperboundary is 281∘C while the temperature at the deepest

Temperature

Dep

th

(c) Steady state(b) Recharge(a) Discharge

(b)(c)(a)

Figure 4The simplified schematic diagram to determine the waterexchange patterns

Test siteMX HSH HH XA JHLH LT TYH HX BLH

Max

Median

Min

Mean

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

Tem

pera

ture

rang

e (∘C)

Figure 5 Box plot of sediment temperatures in testing sites


MXHSHHH

XA

JH

LH

LTTYHHXBLH

08

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

Dep

th in

stre

ambe

d (m

)

Temperature in streambed (∘C)3432302826242220

Figure 6 Temperature profiles of streambed sediment in testingsites

depth is 241∘C The difference of temperature ranges from89∘C in MX to 25∘C in LH

42 Distribution of Temperatures Figure 6 shows the varia-tion of the temperature-depth profiles for the sediments inthe different segments of the river For the temperature-depthprofiles at each testing site the whole trend of changes is sim-ilar However the shape of the profiles displays a dissimilartendency at certain depths For instance the profiles haverelative tremendous changes in JH HX and TYH

The results show a distinct gradient of temperatureprofiles among the testing sites In the summer seasonthe diffusion of the temperature variations differs in thesegments of the river the sediment temperatures decreasedas the water became deeper Sediment temperature canbe categorized into five classifications using the change oftemperature gradient (1) rivers that had an extreme changeof the temperature including the HX and TYH (2) rivers thathad a moderate degree of the temperature changes includingJH and BLH (3) rivers that had good temperature profilesincluding HH and HSH (4) rivers that had a weak changedprofile including MX and LH and (5) rivers that had a stablechange profile XA and LT

43 Hyporheic Water Exchange The maximum rate of waterexchange is 787mmd which occurred in the HH and theminimum of the median is 2756mmd which occurs in JHwhich is one of the second-order tributaries and is in thesouthern part of the Weihe River

The water exchange along the Weihe River has apparentspatial variability from the upstream to downstream thewater exchange at MX in upstream location is close to twotimes greater than tributaries in middle reaches of the riversuch as the JH and TYH (Figure 7(a))

Figure 7 shows the relationship between theHWEand theaverage temperature from the upstream to downstream Forthe average temperature the sediment temperature increasedwith the distance away from the upstream however themedian of the water exchange was greater downstream Thespatial correlation coefficient 1198772 of the water exchange andaverage temperature is 062 and 084 respectively We canfind that the water exchange has a close correlation with thedistance from the upstream Secondly the tributaries alsohad the same pattern on the southern river Furthermoreall the testing sites were compared and there is goodagreement overall (Figure 7) The trend demonstrates thegeneral distribution ofwater exchange in variations across thecatchment

5 Discussion

51 Temperature Spatiality Temperature has increasing ten-dency from the upstream to downstream (Figure 7(b)) Thehydrological heterogeneity leads to the spatial characteristicsof different segments of the river Spatial variations of thesediment could result in the spatial changes of the streambedtemperature Previous studies found that sediments structurehas an impact on thermal transportation [30] The sedimenttemperature is influenced by hydraulic conditions sedimentstemperature with relevance to the conductivity of the heattransport of the fluid and solidmixing textures Additionallythe temperature of streambed sediments was affected bythe changes in atmospheric temperature and radiation fromthe center of the earth and has the diurnal and seasonalvariations [26] For instance the spatial structure of themicrotopography from some transects in the catchmentinfluenced the distributions of the elevation classes andaffected the allocation of the temperature in the sediments[31] Fluxes and residence times varied in different geo-morphic features such as streams in mountain regions [20]Moreover some studies have investigated flow path statusin the hyporheic zone the exit and reenter phenomenonwould take place within tenmeters [32 33] and displayed thatthe variations of upward flux would influence the streambedtemperatures measured over a short period at many locations[34]

In summary the temperatures at the testing sites have thenegative agreement with the depth However the tempera-tures have the apparent gradient oscillations in certain rangesThis range is mainly concentrated around a depth of 20 cmIn this case the steady state of the heat transport is disturbedby the sediments properties and hydrologic conditions Thetemperature in the sediments was not good satisfying thequasit-steady-state condition in these depth ranges In thoseranges HWE would be more strongly influenced by waterflowing from other directions or the heterogeneity of thesediment This pattern of temperature distribution reflectsthe highly variable amplitude ratio values in this contentThe complexity of geomorphic features in particular reachescaused a series of related complex flow pathways in thehyporheic zone which means the water exchange varies inboth magnitude and direction [35]


MX HSH HH LH XA JH LT TYH HX BLHDistance

Water exchange (mmd) y = 00103x2 minus 4484x + 74098 R2 = 06194

0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)


Sediment temperature (∘C)y = 0079x2 minus 01133x + 23611 R2 = 08373

0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)

Figure 7 The treads of hyporheic water exchange and temperature with the upstream of the Weihe River

52 Hyporheic Water Exchange Patterns Interactions bet-ween surface water and groundwater can be identified usinga conceptual model (Figure 4) Generally water interaction ismainly from groundwater to surface water

HWE has the distributional patterns in space the vari-ables of thewater exchange influence the inflows and outflowsprocesses [36] and to a great catchment scale those hugelyamplified the water exchange magnitude by even someorders However in this study for the median of waterexchange the difference for the water exchange magnitudedoes not reach several orders The maximum is about threetimes theminimumThe extreme values all exist in secondarytributaries of the river flowing in the mountainsThis may berelated to more complex morphologic attributes underlyingthe surface water

53 Controlling Drivers of Hyporheic Water Exchange Themedians of HWE compared to the distance away from theupstream in space (Figure 7(a)) The water exchange indifferent stream reaches of the stream corresponds to thecreek features from upstream to downstream

Many factors are influencing the water exchange in thehyporheic zone such as the hydraulic conductivity sedimentcomponent sediment grain size and the discharge from thegroundwater [37] The spatial distribution of water exchangehas a high correlation to the topographic patterns and thelocal space [38] In the downstream reaches other factorsare controlling the HWE for example in meandering riverchannels the horizontal flow through the streambed may becontributing to complex flow [35]

The hyporheic water exchange is associated with the localstreambed attributes (ie sediment structure and topogra-phy) [6] In hydrological processes the heterogeneities ofthe sediments influence water exchange and both the waterexchange and other transient processes have a heterogeneousspatial distribution [39]The deposit structure with the woodor other materials could create a heterogeneous streambedthe fine sediments of the streambed Generally the waterexchange is relatively smaller than the heterogeneities of thestreambed [40]

Vegetation is another driver influencing the water ex-change in the hyporheic zone There are relatively good

vegetated plants around the Heihe environment the plantsare especially central great high trees In summer water headchange is due to pumping function from vegetation [41]

It should be noted that the human constructions alsoinfluence the HWE processes In TYH the measurementsof the location are about 50 meters from the dam whichhas been blocked by fine silt and gravel Therefore inthis environment the hydraulic conductivity tends to besmall and the sediment has the uniform texture with littleheterogeneity As a result HWE tends to be low For somedeposits with a particular volume close to surface water therewas no good steady state due to the sediments influenced byfluctuations from surface water flow The exchange energy ofHWE will control the water transfer pattern in the individualrange [42] Where there are variations at sites only in somemeters apart this probably represents outflow within thehyporheic zone [36] If the water transfer occurs in fine-grained upper sediments a shallow impermeable layer canbe created and thus leads to the changes in water exchangepatterns

54 Hyporheic Water Exchange Scales The HWE dimen-sional scales influence the spatial patterns of the river to somedegree The HWE can be categorized into two scales basedon its driving processes which are large-scale and small-scale [6] Large-scale hydrological exchange results from thespatial and temporal differences between the stream and thesurrounding groundwater levels The small-scale exchangeis mainly driven by the hydrologic flow conditions and themorphological features of the streambed [7] For instancethe small slope and the irregular streambed of a riffle-poolsequence beneath the stream are not perceptible [20 25]meaning the topographic changes in the streambed and theelevation of the surface water would lead to the surface waterdischarge and connect with groundwater [34] these struc-tures enhanced the complex dynamics between groundwaterand surface water Streambeds with highly permeable bedsediments have apparent vertical water exchange [36 43] Inthis study the HWE has the same trend with the hydraulicconductivity in the main channel of the river

Furthermore the no-parameter test of Kruskal-Walliswas used to evaluate the difference between theHWEamount


in the main channel and its tributaries The 119875 value ofthe water exchange magnitude was close to 04 and thishighlights the spatial difference in the catchment

6 Conclusions

The one-dimensional equation was used to estimate hypo-rheic water exchange and evaluate its spatial distribution inthe Weihe River catchment The thermal method is an easycheap and robust way to obtain temperature variations Thisapproach provides spatial information that could be substan-tial when estimating the interaction between groundwaterand surface water

Our findings show that the hyporheic water exchangehas spatial variations across the catchment The exchangemagnitude has a decreasing tendency from the upstream todownstream which is controlled by the distance away fromthe downstream The hyporheic water exchange trend hasa consistency with the main river channel The complexityof water exchange takes place in the southern tributaries inmountainous regionsThe rate of the water exchange tends tobe the underestimate because of only consideration in verticalfluxes In the future investigation some new parameters willbe encouraged to improve the accuracy of the estimation onhyporheic water exchange

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest andfunding regarding the publication of this paper

Acknowledgments

This work was support by National Natural Science Founda-tion ofChina (Grant nos 51379175 and 51679200) SpecializedResearch Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Educa-tion (Grant no 20136101110001) Program for Key ScienceandTechnology InnovationTeam in Shaanxi Province (Grantno 2014KCT-27) and The Hundred Talents Project of theChinese Academy of Sciences (Grant no A315021406) Theauthors thank Jiaxuan Li Xiaojuan Li Xiaogang Yang andothermembers for assistance in field sampling and laboratoryexperiments

References

[1] M Brunke and T Gonser ldquoThe ecological significance ofexchange processes between rivers and groundwaterrdquo Freshwa-ter Biology vol 37 no 1 pp 1ndash33 1997

[2] J A Stanford and J V Ward ldquoThe hyporheic habitat of riverecosystemsrdquo Nature vol 335 no 6185 pp 64ndash66 1988

[3] F J Triska V C Kennedy R J Avanzino G W Zellweger andK E Bencala ldquoRetention and transport of nutrients in a third-order stream in northwestern California hyporheic processesrdquoEcology vol 70 no 6 pp 1893ndash1905 1989

[4] P J Hancock A J Boulton and W F Humphreys ldquoAquifersand hyporheic zones towards an ecological understanding ofgroundwaterrdquo Hydrogeology Journal vol 13 no 1 pp 98ndash1112005

[5] A Argerich E Martı F Sabater andM Ribot ldquoTemporal vari-ation of hydrological exchange and hyporheic biogeochemistryin a headwater stream during autumnrdquo Journal of the NorthAmerican Benthological Society vol 30 no 3 pp 635ndash652 2011

[6] M Mutz and A Rohde ldquoProcesses of surface-subsurface waterexchange in a low energy sand-bed streamrdquo InternationalReview of Hydrobiology vol 88 no 3-4 pp 290ndash303 2003

[7] A J Boulton S Findlay P Marmonier E H Stanley and HMaurice Valett ldquoThe functional significance of the hyporheiczone in streams and riversrdquo Annual Review of Ecology andSystematics vol 29 pp 59ndash81 1998

[8] E Kalbus C Schmidt M Bayer-Raich et al ldquoNew method-ology to investigate potential contaminant mass fluxes at thestream-aquifer interface by combining integral pumping testsand streambed temperaturesrdquo Environmental Pollution vol 148no 3 pp 808ndash816 2007

[9] T C Winter J W Harvey F O Lehn and W M Alley GroundWater and Surface Water A Single Resource Diane PublishingCo Collingdale Pa USA 1999

[10] M Kumarasamy ldquoSimulation of stream pollutant transportwith hyporheic exchange for water resources managementrdquo inCurrent Issues of Water Management InTech 2011

[11] M Sophocleous ldquoInteractions between groundwater and sur-face water the state of the sciencerdquo Hydrogeology Journal vol10 no 1 pp 52ndash67 2002

[12] G Jin H Tang L Li and D A Barry ldquoHyporheic flowunder periodic bed forms influenced by low-density gradientsrdquoGeophysical Research Letters vol 38 no 22 2011

[13] M W Becker T Georgian H Ambrose J Siniscalchi and KFredrick ldquoEstimating flow and flux of ground water dischargeusing water temperature and velocityrdquo Journal of Hydrology vol296 no 1ndash4 pp 221ndash233 2004

[14] J Keery A Binley N Crook and J W N Smith ldquoTemporaland spatial variability of groundwater-surface water fluxesdevelopment and application of an analytical method usingtemperature time seriesrdquo Journal of Hydrology vol 336 no 1-2 pp 1ndash16 2007

[15] W W Woessner ldquoStream and fluvial plain ground waterinteractions rescaling hydrogeologic thoughtrdquo Ground Watervol 38 no 3 pp 423ndash429 2000

[16] E Kalbus F Reinstorf and M Schirmer ldquoMeasuring methodsfor groundwatermdashsurface water interactions a reviewrdquoHydrol-ogy and Earth System Sciences vol 10 no 6 pp 873ndash887 2006

[17] S A Isiorho and J H Meyer ldquoThe effects of bag type and metersize on seepagemetermeasurementsrdquoGroundWater vol 37 no3 pp 411ndash413 1999

[18] C Anibas K Buis R Verhoeven P Meire and O Batelaan ldquoAsimple thermal mapping method for seasonal spatial patternsof groundwater-surfacewater interactionrdquo Journal ofHydrologyvol 397 no 1-2 pp 93ndash104 2011

[19] E Schwegler J C Grossman F Gygi and G Galli ldquoTowards anassessment of the accuracy of density functional theory for firstprinciples simulations of water IIrdquo Journal of Chemical Physicsvol 121 no 11 pp 5400ndash5409 2004

[20] T Kasahara and S M Wondzell ldquoGeomorphic controls onhyporheic exchange flow inmountain streamsrdquoWater ResourcesResearch vol 39 no 1 pp SBH 3-1ndashSBH 3-14 2003

[21] S P Loheide II and S M Gorelick ldquoQuantifying stream-aquifer interactions through the analysis of remotely sensedthermographic profiles and in situ temperature historiesrdquo Envi-ronmental Science and Technology vol 40 no 10 pp 3336ndash33412006


[22] J H Fleckenstein S Krause D M Hannah and F BoanoldquoGroundwater-surface water interactions new methods andmodels to improve understanding of processes and dynamicsrdquoAdvances in Water Resources vol 33 no 11 pp 1291ndash1295 2010

[23] C S Lowry J F Walker R J Hunt and M P AndersonldquoIdentifying spatial variability of groundwater discharge in awetland stream using a distributed temperature sensorrdquo WaterResources Research vol 43 no 10 Article IDW10408 2007

[24] C Anibas J H Fleckenstein N Volze et al ldquoTransient orsteady-state Using vertical temperature profiles to quantifygroundwater-surface water exchangerdquo Hydrological Processesvol 23 no 15 pp 2165ndash2177 2009

[25] E Kalbus C Schmidt J W Molson F Reinstorf and MSchirmer ldquoInfluence of aquifer and streambed heterogeneityon the distribution of groundwater dischargerdquo Hydrology andEarth System Sciences vol 13 no 1 pp 69ndash77 2009

[26] M P Anderson ldquoHeat as a ground water tracerrdquoGroundWatervol 43 no 6 pp 951ndash968 2005

[27] Q Li J X Song A L Wei and B Zhang ldquoChanges in majorfactors affecting the ecosystem health of the Weihe River inShaanxi Province Chinardquo Frontiers of Environmental Scienceand Engineering vol 7 no 6 pp 875ndash885 2013

[28] H Zhang H Lu S-Y Jiang J Vandenberghe S Wang andR Cosgrove ldquoProvenance of loess deposits in the EasternQinling Mountains (central China) and their implications forthe paleoenvironmentrdquoQuaternary Science Reviews vol 43 pp94ndash102 2012

[29] S Suzuki ldquoPercolation measurements based on heat flowthrough soil with special reference to paddy fieldsrdquo Journal ofGeophysical Research vol 65 no 9 pp 2883ndash2885 1960

[30] M M Krol R L Johnson and B E Sleep ldquoAn analysis of amixed convection associated with thermal heating in contami-nated porous mediardquo Science of the Total Environment vol 499pp 7ndash17 2014

[31] S Frei G Lischeid and J H Fleckenstein ldquoEffects of micro-topography on surface-subsurface exchange and runoff genera-tion in a virtual riparian wetlandmdashamodeling studyrdquo Advancesin Water Resources vol 33 no 11 pp 1388ndash1401 2010

[32] R G Storey K W F Howard and D D Williams ldquoFactorscontrolling riffle-scale hyporheic exchange flows and theirseasonal changes in a gaining stream a three-dimensionalgroundwater flowmodelrdquoWater Resources Research vol 39 no2 p 1034 2003

[33] G J Wroblicky M E Campana H M Valett and C N DahmldquoSeasonal variation in surface-subsurface water exchange andlateral hyporheic area of two stream-aquifer systemsrdquo WaterResources Research vol 34 no 3 pp 317ndash328 1998

[34] B Conant Jr ldquoDelineating and quantifying ground waterdischarge zones using streambed temperaturesrdquoGroundWatervol 42 no 2 pp 243ndash257 2004

[35] RM Fanelli and L K Lautz ldquoPatterns of water heat and soluteflux through streambeds around small damsrdquo Ground Watervol 46 no 5 pp 671ndash687 2008

[36] X Chen J Song C Cheng D Wang and S O Lackey ldquoAnew method for mapping variability in vertical seepage flux instreambedsrdquo Hydrogeology Journal vol 17 no 3 pp 519ndash5252009

[37] C Baxter F R Hauer and W W Woessner ldquoMeasuringgroundwater-streamwater exchange new techniques for instal-ling minipiezometers and estimating hydraulic conductivityrdquoTransactions of the American Fisheries Society vol 132 no 3pp 493ndash502 2003

[38] A S Ward M Fitzgerald M N Gooseff T J Voltz A MBinley and K Singha ldquoHydrologic and geomorphic controls onhyporheic exchange during base flow recession in a headwatermountain streamrdquo Water Resources Research vol 48 no 4Article IDW04513 2012

[39] F Boano R Revelli and L Ridolfi ldquoEffect of streamflowstochasticity on bedform-driven hyporheic exchangerdquo Ad-vances in Water Resources vol 33 no 11 pp 1367ndash1374 2010

[40] M Salehin A I Packman and M Paradis ldquoHyporheicexchange with heterogeneous streambeds laboratory experi-ments and modelingrdquoWater Resources Research vol 40 no 11Article IDW11504 pp 1ndash16 2004

[41] PWang Y Zhang J Yu G Fu and F Ao ldquoVegetation dynamicsinduced by groundwater fluctuations in the lower Heihe RiverBasin northwestern Chinardquo Journal of Plant Ecology vol 4 no1-2 pp 77ndash90 2011

[42] G Q Jin H W Tang B Gibbes L Li and D A BarryldquoTransport of nonsorbing solutes in a streambed with periodicbedformsrdquoAdvances inWater Resources vol 33 no 11 pp 1402ndash1416 2010

[43] J W Harvey and K E Bencala ldquoThe Effect of streambed topo-graphy on surfaceminussubsurface water exchange in mountaincatchmentsrdquoWater Resources Research vol 29 no 1 pp 89ndash981993

Submit your manuscripts athttpswwwhindawicom

Hindawi Publishing Corporationhttpwwwhindawicom Volume 2014

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Mining


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0102030405060708090

100110120

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Figure 1 Number of citations of papers on hyporheic zone since 1997 based on a search in the ISI Web of Science(httpappswebofknowledgecomCitationReportdoproduct=UAampsearch mode=CitationReportampSID=Z2Y7ku9pWciBC3oHJF3amppage=1ampcr pqid=3ampviewType=summary)

lakes estuaries reservoirs and streams [17] But the seepagemeterrsquos success has been limited by operational problemsduring field work [18] Water velocity can be deducted usingsolute travel time and distance dataThe relationship betweenwater temperature and the water velocity has been usedto calculate the water exchange from the groundwater intostreams [13] The application of contaminants modeling hasdeveloped the theory and simulation technique [19 20]Remote sensing provides the new approach to investigate thewater exchange [21] New technologies are increasingly usedtomeasureHWEsuch as distributed temperature sensing [2223] The tracer method such as calcium chloride salt anddye has frequently been used to estimate the water exchangein hyporheic zone [16] Heat as a natural tracer has been usedto simulate HWE owing to temperature distribution on theone hand it is the result of heat conduction in the subsurfacebut also it is the consequence of the advection movement ofwater through the porous medium [24] Hence water fluxesbetween groundwater and surface water can be estimated bymeasuring temperature distributions within the coupled sys-tems [25 26] However studies using heat as awater exchangeestimator have mainly measured temperature within a singlestream or in one segment of a river The water exchange in ahyporheic zone at catchment scale is poorly understood andneeds further investigation Moreover for the Weihe Riverwhich is long and crosses different topographic classes inter-actions between the surface water and groundwater in themainstream channel and its tributaries have been relativelyunknown

Using heat as a tracer to investigate HWE in the WeiheRiver extends the application of the thermal method tothe catchment scale The principal foci of this study are toinvestigate thewater exchange across the large basin scale andfind the relationship between the exchange and the spatialdistribution of rivers The objectives of the paper are (1)to detect patterns of water exchange in the hyporheic zone(2) to quantify the rate of hyporheic water exchange and(3) to describe the spatial variability of HWE at catchmentscale

Table 1 Testing sites and the abbreviations in this study

Testing site Meixian Xirsquoan Lintong Huaxian HengshuiheAbbreviation MX XA LT HX HSHTesting site Heihe Laohe Juehe Tangyuhe BeiluoheAbbreviation HH LH JH TYH BLH

2 Study Area Description

As the largest tributary of the Yellow River the Weihe Riverplays a vital role inwater supply and agricultural developmentin Guanzhong BasinTheWeihe River originates fromGansuProvince China from where it flows eastward throughShaanxi Province and at Tongguanxian in the east of ShaanxiProvince it merges into the Yellow River The river has atotal length of 818 km and a drainage area of 134 times 104 km2The whole river has a longitudinal inclination of about 17permilThe drainage area and transportation of the sediments of thisriver account for 179 and 25 for the Yellow River [27]respectively The Weihe River flows along the northern Qin-lingMountains in Shaanxi Province which have an altitude of1500ndash3000m

Ten study sites across catchment were chosen for thisstudy (Figure 2) Four sites are located along the mainchannel while the rest of the tributaries are secondaryand tertiary rivers The Beiluo River is the largest tributaryof the Weihe River Some sites allocated in the southerntributaries are stemmed from Qinling Mountains The cli-mate and vegetation are distinctive on north and southsides loess has preserved well on the eastern side [28]Table 1 lists the testing sites and abbreviations in thisstudy At those sites the components of the deposits alongthe study bank differ from fluvial sand silt clay coarse-grained sediments and gravels During annual flood peri-ods which occur in late autumn the river carries abouttwo to three times more water than the average meanrecharge


Baoji City

LaoheHeihe

XianLintong

Meixian

Hengshuihe

(Km)

the

Weihe

River

Flow

Test sitesRivers

High 3754

Low 206

0 5 10 20 30 40

E

S

W

N

Tongchuan City

Xianyang City

Tangyuhe

Huaxian

Weinan City

Beiluo

Shangluo CityJuehe

Xian City

Elevation in meters

(a) (b)

(c)


3 Methods



Hyp

orhe

ic zo

ne

Thermistor

Surface water

Bank





119870

120588119888

1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

120588119888

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911=120597119879 (119911)

120597119905 (1)





1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

119870

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911= 0 (2)





V =10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816

119870

12058801198880119911ln 119879 (119911) minus 1198791198711198790minus 119879119871

10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816(3)



4 Results



Temperature

Dep

th


(b)(c)(a)



Max

Median

Min

Mean

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

Tem

pera

ture

rang

e (∘C)



MXHSHHH

XA

JH

LH

LTTYHHXBLH

08

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

Dep

th in

stre

ambe

d (m

)









5 Discussion






0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)



0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)














6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in


Baoji City

LaoheHeihe

XianLintong

Meixian

Hengshuihe

(Km)

the

Weihe

River

Flow

Test sitesRivers

High 3754

Low 206

0 5 10 20 30 40

E

S

W

N

Tongchuan City

Xianyang City

Tangyuhe

Huaxian

Weinan City

Beiluo

Shangluo CityJuehe

Xian City

Elevation in meters

(a) (b)

(c)


3 Methods



Hyp

orhe

ic zo

ne

Thermistor

Surface water

Bank





119870

120588119888

1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

120588119888

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911=120597119879 (119911)

120597119905 (1)





1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

119870

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911= 0 (2)





V =10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816

119870

12058801198880119911ln 119879 (119911) minus 1198791198711198790minus 119879119871

10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816(3)



4 Results



Temperature

Dep

th


(b)(c)(a)



Max

Median

Min

Mean

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

Tem

pera

ture

rang

e (∘C)



MXHSHHH

XA

JH

LH

LTTYHHXBLH

08

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

Dep

th in

stre

ambe

d (m

)









5 Discussion






0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)



0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)














6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in



119870

120588119888

1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

120588119888

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911=120597119879 (119911)

120597119905 (1)





1205972119879 (119911)

1205971199112minusV12058801198880

119870

119889119879 (119911)

119889119911= 0 (2)





V =10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816

119870

12058801198880119911ln 119879 (119911) minus 1198791198711198790minus 119879119871

10038161003816100381610038161003816100381610038161003816(3)



4 Results



Temperature

Dep

th


(b)(c)(a)



Max

Median

Min

Mean

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

Tem

pera

ture

rang

e (∘C)



MXHSHHH

XA

JH

LH

LTTYHHXBLH

08

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

Dep

th in

stre

ambe

d (m

)









5 Discussion






0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)



0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)














6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in


MXHSHHH

XA

JH

LH

LTTYHHXBLH

08

07

06

05

04

03

02

01

00

Dep

th in

stre

ambe

d (m

)









5 Discussion






0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)



0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)














6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in




0

20

40

60

80

Wat

er ex

chan

ge (m

md

)

(a)



0

10

20

30

40

Sedi

men

t tem

pera

ture

(∘C)

(b)














6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in



6 Conclusions





Acknowledgments


References






















































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in

































Volume 2014

Mining


Journal of



Geophysics







Journal of




Advances in











Geology Advances in

quantifying the spatial variations of hyporheic water exchange at...

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