See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/255578422

Monitoring Water and Sediment Yield In Mediterranean Mountainous

Watersheds: Preliminary Results

Article · January 2001

CITATION READS

1 41

3 authors, including:

Ramon J Batalla Rosa M. Poch

Universitat de Lleida Universitat de Lleida
229 PUBLICATIONS   6,236 CITATIONS    217 PUBLICATIONS   1,699 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Sediment Export from large Semi-Arid catchments: Measurements and Modelling (SESAM). View project

Formiguer Soils – The Mediterranean analogue to terra preta de Indio in the humid tropics? View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rosa M. Poch on 04 July 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 This paper was peer-reviewed for scientific content.
Pages 223-228. In: D.E. Stott, R.H. Mohtar and G.C. Steinhardt (eds). 2001. Sustaining the Global Farm. Selected papers from the 10th International Soil
Conservation Organization Meeting held May 24-29, 1999 at Purdue University and the USDA-ARS National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory.

Monitoring Water and Sediment Yield In Mediterranean

Mountainous Watersheds: Preliminary Results
J. Rius, R. Batalla*, and R.M. Poch
ABSTRACT pattern of pastures, crops and forest to an increase of forest
Water availability is one of the main objectives in the and range areas due to depopulation and urban development.
management of water resources in Mediterranean areas. This trend has been reinforced by the European Union policy
Urban development and the European Union policy have of setting aside agricultural land. Some effects of these
led, in rural areas, to the abandonment of agricultural changes in the soil and water resources are well known, as
land since the fifties, which has brought about an the increase of interception losses, better water quality or
increase of forestland. increase of infiltration capacity. Nevertheless, the existing
In order to assess the influence of watershed quantitative data for the whole region, representative of
characteristics and management on water resources of a subhumid Mediterranean watersheds is scarce and does not
large pre-Pyrenean reservoir, three nested basins (2.6 allow one to draw definitive conclusions.
km2, 65.2 km2 and 222.5 km2) are being monitored for With the aim to assess these aspects of water resources in
water and sediment budgets. Mainland use is forest mountainous Mediterranean drainage basins, an
(Pinus sylvestris) and the management system is mostly investigation was set in the Odèn-Port del Comte Ranges in
selective cuttings. Monitoring scheme consists of the Pyrenees, namely the Ribera Salada watershed (Fig 1),
continuous recording of discharge in the three basins, where effects of logging on runoff and erosion are being
and sampling of water and suspended sediment in the analyzed in an area of Pinus uncinata and Pinus sylvestris.
two smaller ones. Rainfall is measured by means a series Forest is managed through selective cuttings, but the
of rain gauges distributed in the watersheds. Besides, exploitation degree is not very intense and the average
subsurface water flow along selected slopes of the density of the canopy is rather high. Two aspects will be
smallest watershed is estimated by continuous recording particularly analyzed: 1) the relation between main
of water content through a network of reflectometers hydrological fluxes (soil moisture, rainfall-runoff relation,
and tensiometers. The working hypothesis is that, being river response) at several temporal scales, from individual
subsurface flow the main source of water for rivers in events up to annual water budget), as basis for the
subhumid environments, forest canopy ensures a more quantitative evaluation of water resources and, 2) the
constant water supply than agricultural lands, in spite of relation between discharge, sediment transport and sediment
larger water consumption by evapotranspiration. In this yield, as important variables for the assessment of water
sense, forest management would not affect the water quality.
availability as long as the physical characteristics of the Investigation is funded by the CICYT-Spanish Ministry
soils would be preserved. of Education and Science- and is being developed in
The use of these results for watershed and reservoir collaboration with the Forestry Institute of Catalonia and the
management and modeling needs the definition of land Ebro Water Authorities.
units within the watershed, where transfer functions for
the physical properties of the soils at different scales can MATERIAL AND METHODS
be applied in order to take into account soil variability. Catchment characteristics
Furthermore, variable sediment sources, especially The substrate of the catchment consists of massive
erosion processes in the hillslopes and sediment transport conglomerates and calcareous sandstones merging to
in the channel network, are investigated in order to build calcareous siltstones to the south. The relief is tabular, with
up an integrated sediment budget for the whole area. slopes often higher than 20%. The whole watershed has a
south aspect and its altitude interval is comprised between
INTRODUCTION 660 m and 2383 m asl. Soils are shallow, calcareous and
Evaluation of the water resources is essential for land use stony. They are classified as Lithic and Typic Ustorthents
planning in semiarid areas, as the Ebro valley in NE Spain. and Udorthents, depending on the soil moisture regime and
Water is supplied through large reservoirs fed with waters the presence of a lithic contact (SSS 1999). The annual
draining the Pyrenean mountain range. Land use in this area rainfall ranges from 600 mm to 1200 mm in the highest
has evolved during the last half century from a mosaic points.

*J. Rius, R. Batalla, and R.M. Poch, Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, Universitat de Lleida, Dept. Environment and Soil
Sciences, UdL, Av. Rovira Roure 177, 25198 Lleida, Spain. *Corresponding author: [email protected];
 S

Figure 1. Location and design of the experimental watersheds.

Table 1. Monitoring and sampling instruments

Nested catchments
Cogulers Canalda Ribera Salada
Instrumentation (2.6 km2) (65.2 km2) (222 km2)
Meteorological station 1
Rain-gauges 3 8 (5+3) 9 (1+5+3)
Hydrometric station (weir) 1
Hydrometric station (river bed) 1 1
Water level sensors 1 1 1
Water temperature sensors 1 1
Reflectometers 8
Tensiometers 4
Air temperature sensors 1 1 4 (1+1+2)
Water and sediment samplers 1 1
Bedload traps 6

Research design − Soil moisture and soil water flow: Network of

Research design involves monitoring and reflectometers and tensiometers in two locations: one
experimentation in representative basins. From the scientific under forest and one under pasture, with a continuous
point of view, a working scheme of three nested basins (2.6 monitoring.
km2, 65.2 km2 and 222.5 km2) is being used as basis for − Infiltration: Measured with a tension infiltrometer in
hydrological modeling (Fig 1). selected soil units.
Research is being carried out by means of a progressive − Evapotransporation: Meteorological station with
instrumentation of the catchment. Applied activities of records allowing the calculation of ET with the
interest for the Rialb reservoir (water yield and silting), in Penman method.
the Segre river basin are also taken into account. − River discharge: Four river sections with continuous
Field instrumentation and experimentation is composed monitoring of water discharge.
by the following elements, which are summarized in Table b) Fluvial dynamics
1: − Riverbed micro and macro morphology: Control
a) Hydrological fluxes sections along the river for geometric section
− Precipitation: Network of 9 pluviographs monitoring.
− Interception and through fall: Interception plot under − Sediment transport: Sampling of suspended sediment
Pinus nigra with 16 pluviometers and 5 stem rings to in three river sections. Automatic sampling of
measure through fall and stem flow. bedload in downstream river sections.
 25 0.5
0.45
20 0.4
0.35
15 0.3
rainfall (mm)
0.25

runoff (m3 s-1)

10 0.2
0.15
5 0.1
0.05
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
time (h)

Figure 2. Hydrograph of the 22-27 Sept 98 – flood in the Cogulers gauging station.

25 2.5

20 2

runoff (m3 s-1)

15 1.5
rainfall (mm)

10 1

5 0.5

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140
time (h)

Figure 3. Hydrograph of the 22-27 Sept 98 – flood in the Canalda gauging station.

25 10
9
20 8
7
15 6
runoff (m3 s-1)
rainfall (mm)

5
10 4
3
5 2
1
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140

time (h)

Figure 4. Hydrograph of the 22-27 Sept 98 – flood in the Altés gauging station.
Monitoring design allows to analyze the basin response in unsaturated flux during the flows, since the values of matric
relation to forest and watershed management, as runoff potential decrease very fast after rainfall episodes. Rainfall
mechanisms under different land uses, sediment yield thresholds of 5 mm are enough to produce a hillslope
depending on the type and size of the watersheds, response. Thus, the water supply to the rivers from the soils
assessment of the fluvial sediment budget, or location of of forested slopes as subsurface flow would be very effective
sediment sources. in the sense of a fast response for short duration rainfall
events (Peters et al., 1995).
PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Hydrological fluxes Sediment transport
The analysis of the hydrographs of the smallest Figures 7 and 8 show the evolution of suspended
watershed during two years show very low runoff sediment load during the flood of 27-sept 98, after a drought
coefficients, around 10% of the total rainfall. They are due period, in the two smaller watersheds. In the smallest one
to the predominance of forest in the watershed and to the (Cogulers) sediment is quickly mobilized, which causes an
nature of the parent material, mainly fissured limestone. advance of the sediment peak in comparison to the flow
Multiple regression analyses show a good relation peak. Although this is a common fact in small watersheds
between runoff coefficient and the variables peak flow and (Emmett 1970, Walling 1974), the observed peak sediment
lag time (r2 = 0.91), but almost no relation with antecedent concentrations, over 200 mg l-1, are remarkable. In the
moisture content or accumulated rainfall. Therefore, the intermediate watershed (Canalda) both peaks proceed
most effective rainfall events as far as runoff generation is simultaneously and a quasi-linear hysteresis is observed
concerned, are those causing hydrographs with highest peak during the flood, suggesting the existence of important
flows and not those with only high-accumulated rainfall sediment stocks, uniformly distributed over the watershed
(Poch et al., 2000). (Batalla and Sala, 1994). The sediment concentrations also
Soil moisture content under the monitored forest is high, reach high values, over 1000 mg l-1, due to the previous
ranging from 20 to 194 mm for a depth of 30 mm. The drought, which prevented the sediment to be exported.
temporal variation of soil moisture content shows that it is Keeping in mind the evolution to a higher proportion of
controlled by the rainfall regime, with peaks in autumn and forestland in the last decades in the watershed, the sediment
spring. During the monitored period, more than 67% of the supply from slopes to river water is very low. The
days the control section exceeds field capacity. Given the concentration of suspended sediment is rarely surpassing
high infiltration capacity of these soils, around 80 mm h-1, 0.002 kg m-3. Regarding bedload, the surface material has
saturation is the main responsible for runoff generation in diameters between 30 and 60 mm, while the subsurface
this land unit (Poch et al., 2000). materials range from 8 and 22 mm in size. Transport rates
Figures 2, 3, and 4 show the flood hydrographs for the are often higher than 2 kg m-1 s-1 (submerged weight during
22 to 27 Sept '98 floods. It is remarkable the short lag times full bank flows). Measured values are below model
of the two smaller watersheds, which in the case of Canalda, predictions (Alisedo et al., 2000), which points to a lower
with a surface of 65 km2, is about 2 hours. Contrastingly, availability of sediments in the river. This can be due to the
peak flows are laminated very soon, at a rate of 1/3, routing armoring caused by winnowing of fines and sand during
from Cogulers (Qp/area ≈1/9) to Canalda (Qp/area ≈ 1/30) flood recessions and to a lower frequency and magnitude of
and Ribera Salada (Qp/area ≈ 1/37). the flows caused by land use changes in the watershed.
The analyses of the evolution of the moisture status and The amount of exported sediment as bedload from the
soil matric potential of the slopes (Figs 5 and 6 ) show that whole watershed is around 2000 Mg year-1, lower than the
subsurface flow occurs mostly as short duration pulses of values recorded for similar areas in Catalonia.

25 1

20 0.8
water content

15 0.6
rainfall (mm)

10 0.4

5 0.2

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140

Reflectometer 1 Reflectometer 2
Reflectometer 3 Reflectometer 4

Figure 5. Evolution of the volumetric water content for the 22-27 Sept 98 rainfall event along the monitored slope in Cogulers.
 5
2
0
7

)
0
2 0
6

(- K
p
a
0
5
5
1
0
4

m
0
1 0
3
)(
0
2

n
o
p m
5

e
tric
a
in
ra

l
fl

0
1
0 0
0 1
0 2
0 3
0 4
0 5
0 6
0 7
0 8
0 9
0 1
0 1
0 1
0
2 1
0
3 1
0
4

trT
m
io
s
n
e 1 trT
m
io
s
n
e 2
tr
m
io
s
n
e
T 3 tr
m
io
s
n
e
T 4

Figure 6. Evolution of the matric potential for the 22-27 Sept 98 rainfall event along the monitored slope in Cogulers.

.5
2 0
5
2
1
.5
2 5
2
1
2 0
1
5
.7
1 5
7
8
3/s
)

.5
1 0
5
7
(m

5
.2
1 5
2
6
1 0
5

i /l)
m
sd
t(g
n
e
o
n
ru
f

5
.7
0 5
7
3
.5
0 0
5
2
5
.2
0 5
2
1

d
n
e
p
su
0 0
5
7 7
6 7 7
8 7
9 8
0 8
1 8
2 8
3 8
4 8
5 8
6 8
7 8 8
9 9
0
m
sti
e )
(h
Figure 7. Hydrograph and sedimentograph for the 27 Sept 98 flood in Canalda (line: runoff; point: sediment).

.5
0 0
5
2

.4
0 0
2
3/s

.3
0 0
5
1
(m)

.2
0 0
1
)m
/ld
ist(g
n
e
o
n
ru
f

.1
0 0
5
d
n
e
p
u
s

0 0
5
7 7
6 7 7
8 7
9 8
0 8
1 8
2 8
3 8
4 8
5 8
6 8
7 8 8
9 9
0
m
ti
s
e )
(h
Figure 8. Hydrograph and sedimentograph for the 27 Sept 98 flood in Cogulers (line: runoff; point: sediment).
 CONCLUSIONS Erosion and Sediment Transport (Proc. of the Canberra
Water and sediment monitoring of nested catchments Symposium). IAHS Pub. n. 224.
from slopes to small-scale station gauges allow a Emmet, W.W. 1970. The hydraulics of overland flow. US
comprehensive understanding of the functioning of Geol. Survey Prof. Paper. n. 662.
hydrological systems, which can be used for management Peters, D.L., J.M. Buttle, C.H. Taylor and B.D. LaZerte.
purposes and river and reservoir regulation. 1995. Runoff production in a forested, shallow soil,
Forested watersheds, as water-supplying areas to Canadian Shield basin. Water Resources Research 31
reservoirs in Mediterranean climate areas have to be (5): 1291-1305.
assessed from their potential to supply good quality water in Poch R.M., E. Pratdesaba and J. Rius. 2000. Hydrology of
adequate quantities. In the watershed that is being monitored forest soils in El Solsonès (Catalonia): Contribution to
preliminary analyses suggest: a) the importance of the catchment water resources. In : Abstracts, 3rd
undisturbed forest soils to ensure the entrance of water in the International European Society of Soil Conservation
system and b) the need for controlling non-point sediment (ESSC) Congress. ‘Man and soil at the third millenium’
sources through forest management practices. Valencia (Spain).
Soil Survey Staff (SSS). 1999. Soil Taxonomy. A basic
REFERENCES system of soil classification for making and interpreting
Alisedo, O., R.J. Batalla and C. García. 2000. Dinámica y soil surveys. (2nd ed.). Agriculture Handbook 436.
distribución de la carga de fondo en un río de gravas del NRCS-USDA. Washington.
prepirineo: diseño experimental y primeros resultados. Walling, D.E. 1974. Suspended sediment and solute yields
In: Abstracts, VI Reunión Nacional de Geomorfología. from a small catchment prior to urbanization. p. 169-192.
Madrid. In: K.J. Gregory and D.E. Walling (eds) Fluvial
Batalla, R. and M. Sala. 1994. Temporal variability of Processes in Instrumented Watersheds, Institute of
suspended sediment transport in a Mediterranean sandy British Geographers Special Publ. 6.
gravel-bed river. p. 299-305. In: Variability in Stream

View publication stats