Title

Measuring Autogenic Recharge over a Karst Aquifer Utilizing Eddy Covariance Evapotranspiration

Creator

Files

Publication Date

April 2014

Type

Article

Notes

Nico M. Hauwert 1, John M. Sharp 2 1City of Austin Watershed Protection Department, Austin, USA 2Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA Email: nico.hauwert@austintexas.gov, jmsharp@jsg.utexas.edu AbstractAutogenic, or direct aquifer recharge can best be measured as the remainder of a water balance utilizing precise measurement of precipitation, evapotranspiration (ET) and runoff. ET is the largest component of a precipitation water balance and can be measured within 5% using an eddy covariance system with Bowen-ratio energy balance corrections. Water balance components of precipitation, evapotranspiration, internal runoff, soil moisture were measured using a eddy covariance system, tipping bucket and visual rain gauges, flumes, and soil-moisture sensors. The re- search site was located within a 0.19-km2 (46-acre) internal drainage sinkhole basin where runoff never flows beyond the basin, but potentially reaches a cave serving as a drain to the sinkhole. Other than the cave drain, the basin slopes are indistinguishable from other slopes across the Barton Springs Segment of the Edwards Aquifer. Over a 505-day water balance interval where change in soil moisture was negligible and precipitation was 42% above average, ET was 68% of precipitation, discrete internal runoff was 6%, and remaining component of diffuse autogenic recharge was measured as the residual of total rainfall as 26% of rainfall. Over a longer period of average rainfall, internal runoff diminished to 3%, but was as high as 42% of precipitation during single storms when the soils were near saturation. These results closely match results from a five-year water balance over the Trinity Aquifer of Central Texas where ET was measured to be 65% of precipitation using a Bowen-ratio climate tower, runoff was measured to be 5% of precipitation, and recharge was calculated as the residual at 30% of rainfall. ET flux tower data from other sites across Central Texas indicate that under average precipitation conditions, autogenic recharge is about 28% and intervening recharge area runoff is about 3% of precipitation. During years of higher than average precipitation, authogenic recharge and intervening recharge area runoff combined increase within the range of 30% to 45% of precipitation. Keywords: Evapotranspiration, Recharge, Edwards Aquifer, Karst, Water Balance Copyright (c) 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access See Extended description for more information.

Identifier

K26-02187

Recommended Citation

"Measuring Autogenic Recharge over a Karst Aquifer Utilizing Eddy Covariance Evapotranspiration" (2014). KIP Articles. 3171.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/kip_articles/3171