Water and Chloride Mass Budgets: Quantifying Groundwater Fluxes for a Permanently Flooded Wetland in the Canadian Prairies

Date
2018-01-25
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Abstract
Wetlands play a key role in governing the movement and storage of water and solutes across the Canadian prairies. Hydraulic, thermal and chemical methods were used to assess the water balance of a permanently flooded, prairie wetland pond. Results indicate net groundwater inflow was a vital component of the pond water budget. Chloride mass balance (CMB) and horizontal Darcy flux calculations revealed that March 10 to May 31, 2016 was a critical time for groundwater inflows. Transpiration by riparian vegetation induced seepage of pond water, causing the lateral mobilization of chloride to some riparian margins. CMB results indicate that mass transfer between the pond sediments and water occurs in response to ion-exclusion over winter and dilution from snowmelt in spring. Understanding the mechanisms driving wetland groundwater flow systems in the Canadian prairies is crucial to determining how these processes may be affected by land use practices and climatic change.
Description
Keywords
wetland, water balance, chloride mass balance
Citation
Felske A. E. (2018) Water and Chloride Mass Budgets: Quantifying Groundwater Fluxes for a Permanently Flooded Wetland in the Canadian Prairies (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/5437