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Subsurface water fluxes and their controls in a sloping heterogeneously layered volcanic soil beneath a supra-wet tropical montane cloud forest (NW Costa Rica)
  • Tobon Conrado,
  • L. Adrian Bruijnzeel
Tobon Conrado
Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Medellin

Corresponding Author:ctobonm@unal.edu.co

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L. Adrian Bruijnzeel
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Faculteit der Exacte Wetenschappen
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Abstract

Tropical montane cloud forests (TMCF) receive additional (‘occult’) inputs of water from fog and wind-driven rain. Together with the concomitant reduction in evaporative losses, this typically leads to high soil moisture levels (often approaching saturation) that are likely to promote rapid subsurface flow via macropores. Although TMCF make up an estimated 6.6% of all remaining montane tropical forest and occur mostly in steep headwater areas that are protected in the expectation of reduced downstream flooding, TMCF hillslope hydrological functioning has rarely been studied. To better understand the hydrology of a TMCF on heterogeneously layered volcanic ash soils under very high net rainfall conditions (up to 6,740 mm yr-1), we examined temporal and spatial soil water dynamics and their contribution to subsurface runoff and stormflow for a year (1 July 2003 – 30 June 2004) in a small headwater catchment on the Atlantic (windward) slope near Monteverde, NW Costa Rica. Particular attention was paid to partitioning of water fluxes into lateral subsurface flow and vertical percolation. The presence of a gravelly volcanic layer at shallow depth of very high hydraulic conductivity intercalated between two layers of lower conductivity, controlled both surface infiltration and delayed vertical water movement deeper into the soil profile. Soil water fluxes during rainfall were dominated by rapid lateral flow in the gravelly layer, particularly at high soil water contents. In turn, this lateral subsurface flow controlled the magnitude and timing of stormflow from the catchment. Stormflow amount increased rapidly once topsoil moisture exceeded a threshold value of ~0.58 cm3 cm-3. Responses were not affected appreciably by rainfall intensity because soil hydraulic conductivities across the profile largely exceeded prevailing rainfall intensities.
01 Jun 2021Submitted to Hydrological Processes
01 Jun 2021Submission Checks Completed
01 Jun 2021Assigned to Editor
01 Jun 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
24 Jun 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
26 Jun 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
14 Aug 20211st Revision Received
17 Aug 2021Assigned to Editor
17 Aug 2021Submission Checks Completed
17 Aug 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
20 Sep 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
24 Sep 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Minor
23 Oct 20212nd Revision Received
24 Oct 2021Submission Checks Completed
24 Oct 2021Assigned to Editor
24 Oct 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
24 Oct 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Oct 2021Editorial Decision: Accept