Field studies of streamflow generation using natural and injected tracers on Bickford and Walker Branch Watersheds

摘要

Field studies of streamflow generation were undertaken on two forested watersheds, the West Road subcatchment of Bickford Watershed in central Massachusetts and the West Fork of Walker Branch Watershed in eastern Tennessee. A major component of the research was development of a two-stage methodology for the use of naturally-occurring (sup 222)Rn as a tracer. The first of the two stages was solving a mass-balance equation for (sup 222)Rn around a stream reach of interest in order to calculate Rn(sub q), the (sup 222)Rn content of the lateral inflow to the reach; a conservative tracer (chloride) and a volatile tracer (propane) were injected into the study stream to account for lateral inflow to, and volatilization from, the study reach. The second stage involved quantitative comparison of Rn(sub q) to the measured (sup 222)Rn concentrations of different subsurface waters in order to assess how important these waters were in contributing lateral inflow to the stream reach. (ERA citation 17:029708)