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Organizational Principles of Hyporheic Exchange Flow and Biogeochemical Cycling in River Networks Across Scales

Krause, Stefan and Abbott, Benjamin W. and Baranov, Viktor and Bernal, Susana and Blaen, Phillip and Datry, Thibault and Drummond, Jennifer and Fleckenstein, Jan H. and Velez, Jesus Gomez and Hannah, David M. and Knapp, Julia L. A. and Kurz, Marie and Lewandowski, Jörg and Martí, Eugènia and Mendoza‐Lera, Clara and Milner, Alexander and Packman, Aaron and Pinay, Gilles and Ward, Adam S. and Zarnetzke, Jay P. (2022) 'Organizational Principles of Hyporheic Exchange Flow and Biogeochemical Cycling in River Networks Across Scales.', Water resources research., 58 (3). e2021WR029771.

Abstract

Hyporheic zones increase freshwater ecosystem resilience to hydrological extremes and global environmental change. However, current conceptualizations of hyporheic exchange, residence time distributions, and the associated biogeochemical cycling in streambed sediments do not always accurately explain the hydrological and biogeochemical complexity observed in streams and rivers. Specifically, existing conceptual models insufficiently represent the coupled transport and reactivity along groundwater and surface water flow paths, the role of autochthonous organic matter in streambed biogeochemical functioning, and the feedbacks between surface-subsurface ecological processes, both within and across spatial and temporal scales. While simplified approaches to these issues are justifiable and necessary for transferability, the exclusion of important hyporheic processes from our conceptualizations can lead to erroneous conclusions and inadequate understanding and management of interconnected surface water and groundwater environments. This is particularly true at the landscape scale, where the organizational principles of spatio-temporal dynamics of hyporheic exchange flow (HEF) and biogeochemical processes remain largely uncharacterized. This article seeks to identify the most important drivers and controls of HEF and biogeochemical cycling based on a comprehensive synthesis of findings from a wide range of river systems. We use these observations to test current paradigms and conceptual models, discussing the interactions of local-to-regional hydrological, geomorphological, and ecological controls of hyporheic zone functioning. This improved conceptualization of the landscape organizational principles of drivers of HEF and biogeochemical processes from reach to catchment scales will inform future river research directions and watershed management strategies.

Item Type:Article
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Available under License - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
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Status:Peer-reviewed
Publisher Web site:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR029771
Publisher statement:© 2022. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date accepted:22 December 2021
Date deposited:18 August 2022
Date of first online publication:11 February 2022
Date first made open access:18 August 2022

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