Revisiting the Hewlett and Hibbert (1963) Hillslope Drainage Experiment and Modeling Effects of Decadal Pedogenic Processes and Leaky Soil Boundary Conditions

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dc.contributor.authorLee, Raymond M.en
dc.contributor.authorMcGuire, Kevin J.en
dc.contributor.authorStrahm, Brian D.en
dc.contributor.authorKnoepp, Jennifer D.en
dc.contributor.authorJackson, C. Rhetten
dc.contributor.authorStewart, Ryan D.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.contributor.departmentSchool of Plant and Environmental Sciencesen
dc.contributor.departmentVirginia Water Resources Research Centeren
dc.date.accessioned2020-02-07T17:48:21Zen
dc.date.available2020-02-07T17:48:21Zen
dc.date.issued2019-10-22en
dc.description.abstractSubsurface flow dominates water movement from hillslopes to streams in most forested headwater catchments. Hewlett and Hibbert (1963, https://doi.org/10.1029/JZ068i004p01081) constructed an idealized hillslope model (0.91 × 0.91 × 15.0 m; 21.8°) using reconstituted C horizon soil to investigate importance of interflow, a type of subsurface flow. They saturated the model, covered it to prevent evaporation, and allowed free drainage for 145 days. The resulting recession drainage curve suggested two phases: fast drainage of saturated soil in the first 1.5 days and then slow drainage of unsaturated soil. Hydrologists interpreted the latter as evidence interflow could sustain baseflow, even during extended drought. Since that experiment, typical forest vegetation grew in the model, providing root and litter inputs for 55 years. We removed all aboveground live biomass and repeated the experiment physically and numerically (HYDRUS‐2D), hypothesizing that pedogenesis would change the drainage curve and further elucidate the role of unsaturated flow from hillslopes. Contrary to this hypothesis, drainage curves in our twice‐repeated physical experiments and numerical simulation were unchanged for the first ~10 days, indicating pedogenesis and biological processes had not largely altered bulk hydraulic conductivities or soil moisture release characteristics. However, drainage unexpectedly ceased after about 2 weeks (14.3 ± 2.5 days), an order of magnitude sooner than in the original experiment, due to an apparent leak in the hillslope analogous to commonly observed bedrock fractures in natural systems. Thus, our results are a more natural recession behavior that highlight how incorporation of alternative hydrologic outputs can reduce drainage duration and volume from soils to baseflow.en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025090en
dc.identifier.issue1en
dc.identifier.orcidMcGuire, Kevin J. [0000-0001-5751-3956]en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/96764en
dc.identifier.volume56en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Unionen
dc.rightsCreative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedicationen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/en
dc.titleRevisiting the Hewlett and Hibbert (1963) Hillslope Drainage Experiment and Modeling Effects of Decadal Pedogenic Processes and Leaky Soil Boundary Conditionsen
dc.title.serialWater Resources Researchen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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