Floods, channel change, and the hyporheic zone

Abstract

We investigated the influence of flood‐induced channel changes on the hyporheic zone of 4th‐ and 5th‐order reaches of a mountain stream network. Preflood versus postflood comparisons were made in three study reaches from well networks established before and reestablished after a major flood. Flood effects were scale dependent and varied with channel constraint and the dominant channel forming process. Large changes were observed in unconstrained stream reaches where channel incision drove large changes in subsurface flow paths and the extent of the hyporheic zone. However, subreach scale differences were apparent. In the lower portion of the studied reach, channel incision lowered the water table, leading to abandonment of secondary channels, and decreased the extent of the hyporheic zone that previously extended more than 30 m into the floodplain. In contrast, the extent of the hyporheic zone increased at the head of the studied reach where channel incision steepened head gradients through a meander bend. In another unconstrained reach, lateral channel jumps dramatically altered exchange flow paths. However, the extensive hyporheic zone was maintained throughout the reach. Less change was observed in the constrained stream reach where both the depth and area of sediment available to be reworked by the flood were limited by bedrock constraining the width of the valley floor. This flood dramatically changed the hyporheic zone at the three study sites and these physical changes are expected to be biologically important, considering the role of the hyporheic zone in stream ecosystem processes.