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Assessing urbanization impacts on catchment transit times
Author(s) -
Soulsby Chris,
Birkel Christian,
Tetzlaff Doerthe
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2013gl058716
Subject(s) - urbanization , environmental science , drainage basin , precipitation , hydrology (agriculture) , streams , transit time , cover (algebra) , land cover , physical geography , land use , geography , geology , meteorology , ecology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , transport engineering , engineering , mechanical engineering , computer network , computer science , biology
Stable isotopes have potential for assessing the hydrologic impacts of urbanization, although it is unclear whether established methods of isotope modeling translate to such disturbed environments. We tested two transit time modeling approaches (using a gamma distribution and a two‐parallel linear reservoir (TPLR) model) in a rapidly urbanizing catchment. Isotopic variability in precipitation was damped in streams with attenuation inversely correlated with urban cover. The models captured this reasonably well, although the TPLR better represented the integrated dual response of urban and nonurban areas with reduced uncertainty. Percent urban cover influenced the shape of the catchment transit time distribution. Total urban cover reduced the mean transit time to <10 days compared with ~1 year and ~2–3 years with 63% and 13% urbanization, respectively, while it was at >4 years for nonurban sites.