The hydroclimatological characteristics of a peatland-dominated catchment in southeastern Newfoundland

Barnes, Jeffrey Leslie (1984) The hydroclimatological characteristics of a peatland-dominated catchment in southeastern Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Little is known about the hydrology of peatland in Newfoundland despite the extensive tracts of peatland found there. This thesis attemtps to characterize the hydroclimatology of the Old Sams River (2.55 km²), a small peatland-dominated catchment on the southern Avalon Peninsula. -- Detailed hydrometeorological investigations were carried out through a 76-day study period to monitor the transition from wet to dry hydrometeorological conditions typically experienced in spring and summer. The study undertakes a comparative analysis of these data with those of two gauged catchments also located on the Avalon Peninsula, Northwest Brook (53.3 km²) and Northeast Pond River (3.63 km²), both of which have much less peatland. -- Evaluation of the seasonal hydroclimatological representativeness of the study period demonstrates that all three catchments experienced a range of hydrometeorological conditions, undergoing a transition from warmer and wetter than normal conditions to much drier than normal conditions. -- The analyses demonstrate that in comparison with that experienced at the other two catchments, under the drier than normal conditions in the latter part of the study period, the Old Sams River gradually released moisture which was stored in its peatlands. However, the hydroclimatology of the Old Sams River catchment is such that its peatlands seldom become sufficiently dry to enable them to act as a regulator of streamflow in this way. Under normal conditions, high water table persists year-round, causing the hydrologically-active layer to encourage rapid, spate-like streamflow response to precipitation. The hydroclimatological conditions at Old Sams River differ from those observed for other peatlands reported in the literature, where runoff can often cease for long periods under dry summer conditions. -- The importance of the hydrologically active layer in the generation of runoff was demonstrated by the frequent occurrence of depressions in the recession phase of the hydrograph at Old Sams River. These appear to be directly related to the diurnal pattern in the meteorological parameters responsible for evapotranspiration. These evapotranspiration-induced depressions in the hydrograph resulted in a rapid decrease in discharge to a mid-day value between 60.5% and 91.7% of the previous overnight discharge, and was.55.1% to 96.7% of the overnight recovery discharge. -- (KEYWORDS: peatland; blanket bog; hydrology; hydroclimatology; hydrometeorology; evapotranspiration; Newfoundland).

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