Combined Effects of Stream Hydrology and Land Use on Basin‐Scale Hyporheic Zone Denitrification in the Columbia River Basin

Son, Kyongho; Fang, Yilin; Gomez‐Velez, Jesus D.; Byun, Kyuhyun; Chen, Xingyuan

doi:10.1029/2021WR031131

Combined Effects of Stream Hydrology and Land Use on Basin‐Scale Hyporheic Zone Denitrification in the Columbia River Basin

Journal Article · Fri Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Water Resources Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031131· OSTI ID:1902529

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Vanderbilt University Nashville TN USA, Climate Change Science Institute &, Environmental Sciences Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge TN USA
Department of Environmental Engineering Incheon National University Incheon South Korea

Abstract

Denitrification in the hyporheic zone (HZ) of river corridors is crucial to removing excess nitrogen in rivers from anthropogenic activities. However, previous modeling studies of the effectiveness of river corridors in removing excess nitrogen via denitrification were often limited to the reach‐scale and low‐order stream watersheds. We developed a basin‐scale river corridor model for the Columbia River Basin with random forest models to identify the dominant factors associated with the spatial variation of HZ denitrification. Our modeling results suggest that the combined effects of hydrologic variability in reaches and substrate availability influenced by land use are associated with the spatial variability of modeled HZ denitrification at the basin scale. Hyporheic exchange flux can explain most of spatial variation of denitrification amounts in reaches of different sizes, while among the reaches affected by different land uses, the combination of hyporheic exchange flux and stream dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration can explain the denitrification differences. Also, we can generalize that the most influential watershed and channel variables controlling denitrification variation are channel morphology parameters (median grain size (D50), stream slope), climate (annual precipitation and evapotranspiration), and stream DOC‐related parameters (percent of shrub area). The modeling framework in our study can serve as a valuable tool to identify the limiting factors in removing excess nitrogen pollution in large river basins where direct measurement is often infeasible.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1902529

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1902130
OSTI ID: 1902801
OSTI ID: 1996063

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-165887; e2021WR031131

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Journal Name: Water Resources Research Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 58; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
denitrification modeling
hyporheic zone
land use
random forest model
stream size

Combined Effects of Stream Hydrology and Land Use on Basin‐Scale Hyporheic Zone Denitrification in the Columbia River Basin

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