Small Watershed Studies at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia Active
The Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW) is a 41-hectare forested watershed in the southern Piedmont physiographic province near Atlanta, Georgia. The watershed contains a naturally regenerated second-growth forest on abandoned agricultural land, typical of the Piedmont. Research at PMRW is focused on how streamflow is generated, and in particular, on how water and solutes move from hillslopes to the stream.
The Panola Mountain Research Watershed project was formally a part of the Water, Energy and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB). The project is now a part of the Ecosystems Climate Research and Development Program.
The research shows that streamflow and solute concentrations of precipitation, throughfall, soil water and streamwater change rapidly during rainstorms. Furthermore, these variations are strongly associated with the soil-moisture conditions, the soil type and and thickness, and the rainfall intensity, all of which effect the chemical interactions and mixing of water traveling along hydrological pathways over and through the bedrock and soils.
Problem
Watersheds are composed of chemically distinct environments. Consequently, a mechanistic determination of streamwater chemistry requires an understanding of the hydrologic pathways to the stream in the watershed as well as the interactions between the soil and water. The combination indicates that to understand streamwater chemistry, it is important to understand soil-solution chemistry. Yet, the regulation of soil-solution chemistry is poorly understood because, in part, the principles of thermodynamics governing solubility and the theory of ion exchange, absorption, and kinetics cannot be readily applied to complex natural systems.
Research is conducted at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, a 41-hectare forested watershed in the Panola Mountain State Park. Intensive (or event-based) and extensive characterizations determine the physics and chemistry of soil and water at both the plot (10- to 100-meter2 area), and sub-catchment (4- to 20-hectare area) scales. Extensive characterizations focus on spatial distributions of physical and chemical characteristics of soils and water in plots distributed throughout the watershed.
Objectives
- To investigate processes that control the movement and solute composition of water along hydrologic pathways that produce streamflow in a forested Piedmont watershed;
- determine relative contributions from a variety of sources of solutes observed in streamwater, including primary mineral weathering, cation exchange, and atmospheric deposition (both wet and dry deposition);
- and investigate biogeochemical processes controlling the regulation of soil-solution chemistry and element cycling.
Publications on the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia
- Publications on the Panola Mountain Research Watershed
- Other Publications of the Panola Mountain Project Staff
Below are data releases associated with this project.
A reference data set of hillslope rainfall-runoff response, Panola Mountain Research Watershed, United States
Effect of bedrock permeability on subsurface stormflow and the water balance of a trenched hillslope at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia, USA
The composite method: An improved method for stream-water solute load estimation
Water and solute mass balance of five small, relatively undisturbed watersheds in the U.S.
The ubiquitous nature of accessory calcite in granitoid rocks: Implications for weathering, solute evolution, and petrogenesis
Climate warming could reduce runoff significantly in New England, USA
Diagnostic tools for mixing models of stream water chemistry
Modelling hydrologic responses in a small forested catchment (Panola Mountain, Georgia, USA): A comparison of the original and a new dynamic TOPMODEL
Status and trends in atmospheric deposition and emissions near Atlanta, Georgia, 1986-99
The role of bedrock topography on subsurface storm flow
Chemical weathering of the Panola Granite: Solute and regolith elemental fluxes and the weathering rate of biotite
Quantifying contributions to storm runoff through end-member mixing analysis and hydrologic measurements at the Panola Mountain research watershed (Georgia, USA)
Below are partners associated with this project.
- Overview
The Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW) is a 41-hectare forested watershed in the southern Piedmont physiographic province near Atlanta, Georgia. The watershed contains a naturally regenerated second-growth forest on abandoned agricultural land, typical of the Piedmont. Research at PMRW is focused on how streamflow is generated, and in particular, on how water and solutes move from hillslopes to the stream.
The Panola Mountain Research Watershed project was formally a part of the Water, Energy and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB). The project is now a part of the Ecosystems Climate Research and Development Program.
The research shows that streamflow and solute concentrations of precipitation, throughfall, soil water and streamwater change rapidly during rainstorms. Furthermore, these variations are strongly associated with the soil-moisture conditions, the soil type and and thickness, and the rainfall intensity, all of which effect the chemical interactions and mixing of water traveling along hydrological pathways over and through the bedrock and soils.
Problem
Watersheds are composed of chemically distinct environments. Consequently, a mechanistic determination of streamwater chemistry requires an understanding of the hydrologic pathways to the stream in the watershed as well as the interactions between the soil and water. The combination indicates that to understand streamwater chemistry, it is important to understand soil-solution chemistry. Yet, the regulation of soil-solution chemistry is poorly understood because, in part, the principles of thermodynamics governing solubility and the theory of ion exchange, absorption, and kinetics cannot be readily applied to complex natural systems.
Research is conducted at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, a 41-hectare forested watershed in the Panola Mountain State Park. Intensive (or event-based) and extensive characterizations determine the physics and chemistry of soil and water at both the plot (10- to 100-meter2 area), and sub-catchment (4- to 20-hectare area) scales. Extensive characterizations focus on spatial distributions of physical and chemical characteristics of soils and water in plots distributed throughout the watershed.
Objectives
- To investigate processes that control the movement and solute composition of water along hydrologic pathways that produce streamflow in a forested Piedmont watershed;
- determine relative contributions from a variety of sources of solutes observed in streamwater, including primary mineral weathering, cation exchange, and atmospheric deposition (both wet and dry deposition);
- and investigate biogeochemical processes controlling the regulation of soil-solution chemistry and element cycling.
Publications on the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia
- Publications on the Panola Mountain Research Watershed
- Other Publications of the Panola Mountain Project Staff
- Data
Below are data releases associated with this project.
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 55
A reference data set of hillslope rainfall-runoff response, Panola Mountain Research Watershed, United States
Although many hillslope hydrologic investigations have been conducted in different climate, topographic, and geologic settings, subsurface stormflow remains a poorly characterized runoff process. Few, if any, of the existing data sets from these hillslope investigations are available for use by the scientific community for model development and validation or conceptualization of subsurface stormflAuthorsMeerveld Tromp-van, A.L. James, Jeffery J. McDonnell, N.E. PetersEffect of bedrock permeability on subsurface stormflow and the water balance of a trenched hillslope at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia, USA
The effect of bedrock permeability on subsurface stormflow initiation and the hillslope water balance is poorly understood. Previous hillslope hydrological studies at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW), Georgia, USA, have assumed that the bedrock underlying the trenched hillslope is effectively impermeable. This paper presents a series of sprinkling experiments where we test the bedrockAuthorsMeerveld Tromp-van, N.E. Peters, Jeffery J. McDonnellThe composite method: An improved method for stream-water solute load estimation
The composite method is an alternative method for estimating stream-water solute loads, combining aspects of two commonly used methods: the regression-model method (which is used by the composite method to predict variations in concentrations between collected samples) and a period-weighted approach (which is used by the composite method to apply the residual concentrations from the regression modAuthorsBrent T. Aulenbach, R. P. HooperWater and solute mass balance of five small, relatively undisturbed watersheds in the U.S.
Geochemical mass balances were computed for water years 1992-1997 (October 1991 through September 1997) for the five watersheds of the U.S. Geological Survey Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) Program to determine the primary regional controls on yields of the major dissolved inorganic solutes. The sites, which vary markedly with respect to climate, geology, physiography, and ecologyAuthorsN.E. Peters, J. B. Shanley, Brent T. Aulenbach, R. M. Webb, K. Campbell, R. Hunt, M. C. Larsen, R.F. Stallard, J. Troester, J.F. WalkerThe ubiquitous nature of accessory calcite in granitoid rocks: Implications for weathering, solute evolution, and petrogenesis
Calcite is frequently cited as a source of excess Ca, Sr and alkalinity in solutes discharging from silicate terrains yet, no previous effort has been made to assess systematically the overall abundance, composition and petrogenesis of accessory calcite in granitoid rocks. This study addresses this issue by analyzing a worldwide distribution of more than 100 granitoid rocks. Calcite is found to beAuthorsA. F. White, M. S. Schulz, J. B. Lowenstern, D.V. Vivit, T.D. BullenClimate warming could reduce runoff significantly in New England, USA
The relation between mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP) and evapotranspiration (ET) for 38 forested watersheds was determined to evaluate the potential increase in ET and resulting decrease in stream runoff that could occur following climate change and lengthening of the growing season. The watersheds were all predominantly forested and were located in eastern North AmeAuthorsT.G. HuntingtonDiagnostic tools for mixing models of stream water chemistry
Mixing models provide a useful null hypothesis against which to evaluate processes controlling stream water chemical data. Because conservative mixing of end‐members with constant concentration is a linear process, a number of simple mathematical and multivariate statistical methods can be applied to this problem. Although mixing models have been most typically used in the context of mixing soil aAuthorsRichard P. HooperModelling hydrologic responses in a small forested catchment (Panola Mountain, Georgia, USA): A comparison of the original and a new dynamic TOPMODEL
Preliminary modelling results for a new version of the rainfall-runoff model TOPMODEL, dynamic TOPMODEL, are compared with those of the original TOPMODEL formulation for predicting streamflow at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia. Dynamic TOPMODEL uses a kinematic wave routing of subsurface flow, which allows for dynamically variable upslope contributing areas, while retaining the conAuthorsN.E. Peters, J. Freer, K. BevenStatus and trends in atmospheric deposition and emissions near Atlanta, Georgia, 1986-99
Wet and dry atmospheric deposition were investigated from weekly data, 1986-99 (1986-97 for dry deposition) at the Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW), a forested research site 25 km, southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Furthermore, the wet deposition was compared to that at three adjacent National Atmospheric Deposition Program's National Trends Network (NTN) sites (GA41, 50 km south of PMRW; ALAuthorsN.E. Peters, T.P. Meyers, Brent T. AulenbachThe role of bedrock topography on subsurface storm flow
We conducted a detailed study of subsurface flow and water table response coupled with digital terrain analysis (DTA) of surface and subsurface features at the hillslope scale in Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW), Georgia. Subsurface storm flow contributions of macropore and matrix flow in different sections along an artificial trench face were highly variable in terms of timing, peak flowAuthorsJim Freer, Jeffery J. McDonnell, K.J. Beven, N.E. Peters, Douglas A. Burns, R. P. Hooper, B. Aulenbach, C. KendallChemical weathering of the Panola Granite: Solute and regolith elemental fluxes and the weathering rate of biotite
Present-day elemental and mineral weathering rates based on solute fluxes are compared quantitatively to past long-term rates determined from solid-state elemental fractionation in a saprolitic granite regolith at Panola, Georgia, USA. Saturated fluid flow across a low-permeability kaolin duripan controls the rate of steady-state unsaturated flow in the underlying saprolite. Water and Cl mass balaAuthorsArt F. White, Alex E. Blum, Marjorie S. Schulz, Thomas G. Huntington, Norman E. Peters, David A. StonestromQuantifying contributions to storm runoff through end-member mixing analysis and hydrologic measurements at the Panola Mountain research watershed (Georgia, USA)
The geographic sources and hydrologic flow paths of stormflow in small catchments are not well understood because of limitations in sampling methods and insufficient resolution of potential end members. To address these limitations, an extensive hydrologic dataset was collected at a 10 ha catchment at Panola Mountain research watershed near Atlanta, GA, to quantify the contribution of three geograAuthorsDouglas A. Burns, Jeffery J. McDonnell, R. P. Hooper, N.E. Peters, J.E. Freer, C. Kendall, K. Beven - Partners
Below are partners associated with this project.