LINKING LANDSCAPES WITH SEASONAL RECESSION DISCHARGE

Hydrology is a critical component of land management, especially in the semi-arid western areas of the United States. Knowing what role particular catchment attributes (slope, aspect, landcover, and contributing area) play in the contribution of flow to a stream is important for land management decisions. Our study site is two paired catchments (approximately 9 and 11 km²) in the headwaters of the Weber drainage basin in Northern Utah. These catchments are surrounded by Wasatch formation with loamy textured soils. One catchment is predominantly underlain by quartzite while the other catchment is mostly underlain by limestone. Each catchment was measured for lateral flow gains every 200 meters using dilution gauging throughout the ≈6 km long streams. These measurements were taken at different periods during seasonal discharge recession. Using GIS software, landscape analysis for slope, aspect, contributing area, topographic convergence, riparian and hillslope area, and landcover was performed on each of the contributing areas to the 200 meter reaches. The results were tested for correlations between lateral flow gains and different landscape characteristics. One of the catchments will undergo vegetation manipulation as part of an ecosystem response study. Before future manipulations of vegetation in these catchments is to occur, it is important to understand the streams present connections with their catchments as identified by this study.