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The Ballenera Creek has 160 km2 being a small catchment in the Pampa Plain in Argentina. This area has been deeply modified by human action through agricultural activities. From 2013 to 2017, electrical conductivity, stable isotopes of water and nitrate concentration monitoring program were conducted. The sampling included weekly and bimonthly samples in two sites along the stream, several groundwater wells and monthly precipitation. Chemical and isotopic tracers are used to discriminate the streamflow components and to evaluate their incidence in the nitrate concentration. The easiest conceptual model for gaining streams contemplates two main elements: direct runoff and groundwater (baseflow and pre-event water). The direct runoff has the lowest electrical conductivity and 18Ow variable content. The baseflow component is characterized by the highest electrical conductivity and isotope composition quite constant. Finally, pre-event water has an intermediate electrical conductivity and isotopic content close to the rainfall-weighted average composition. The nitrate concentration obtained was in general related to the different stream stages and was a useful indicator to evaluate the fertilization in agricultural zones. Fil: Calvi, Carolina Maria Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica; Argentina Fil: Dapeña, Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica; Argentina Fil: Martinez, Daniel Emilio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina Fil: Quiroz Londoño, Orlando Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentina

In agricultural catchments, hydrological processes play an important role in the export of nutrients. Water that enters a catchment during a rain event (event water) can have different flow paths and residence times. These affect the transport and biogeochemical transformation of nutrients until the water discharges at the outlet where catchments are usually monitored.This work focused on the contributions of event water and pre-event water (water that was already stored in the catchment before a rainfall event) to the stream. The work is necessary for further studies to develop an understanding of the relation of nutrients export and water flow paths. The method was based on isotopic hydrograph separation and performed on existing data. The stable isotope signature of oxygen in water (δ18O) was used as a tracer. A new study is planned using δ18O to distinguish different flow paths and residence times of water, and therefore a sequential rainfall collector was tested and improved for this purpose.The results of the hydrograph separation show that up to 54% of an increased discharge from a rainwater event is event water, but also that data in a higher temporal resolution is needed to quantify contributions of event water to the runoff for all the events. Additional and more advanced experiments of the rainfall collector would be an advantage, but it can also be used in the field as it is today. Based on the analysis and the revised sequential rainfall collector, a sampling strategy for future work is described. I ett jordbruksavrinningsområde spelar hydrologiska processer en viktig roll vid export av näringsämnen. Vatten som adderas till ett avrinningsområde från ett regnevent (eventvatten) kan ha olika flödesvägar och olika uppehållstider. Dessa påverkar transporten och omvandlingen av biogeokemiska näringsämnen olika tills det att vattnet lämnar avrinningsområdet via ett utlopp.Arbetet har fokuserat på vilket bidrag eventvatten och vatten som redan lagrats i avrinningsområdet före regnhändelsen (pre-eventvatten) har till avrinningen till en flod. Arbetet är viktigt för att utveckla en förståelse för vattenflödesvägar som är nödvändiga för ytterligare undersökning av export av näringsämnen. Metoden baserades på en isotopisk hydrograf-separation och utfördes på existerande data. Spåraren som användes var den stabila isotopen av syre i vatten (δ18O). Eftersom en ny studie planeras med användning av δ18O för att skilja olika flödesvägar och uppehållstider för vatten, har en sekventiell regnuppfångare också testats och förbättras.Resultaten av den hydrografa separationen visar att upp till 54% av en ökad avrinning i floden som resultat av ett regnevent är eventvatten, men även att det finns behov av data med högre tidsmässig upplösning behövs för att kunna kvantifiera bidrag från eventvatten till avrinningen för alla event. Fler och mer avancerade tester av regnfångaren skulle vara en fördel, men den kan även i dagsläget användas i fält. Baserat på resultat från experiment av regnuppfångaren föreslås kort en provtagningsstrategi för framtida arbeten.

Subsurface storage as a regulator of streamflow was investigated as an explanation for the large proportion of pre-event water observed in urban streams during storm events. We used multiple lines of inquiry to explore the relationship between pre-event water proportion, subsurface storage, and streamflow under storm conditions. First, we used a three-dimensional model of integrated subsurface and surface flow and solute transport to simulate an idealized hillslope to perform model-based chemical hydrograph separation of stormflow. Second, we employed simple dynamical systems analysis to derive the relationship between subsurface storage and streamflow for three Baltimore, Maryland watersheds (3.8–14 km2 in area) along an urban-to-rural gradient. Last, we applied chemical hydrograph separation to high-frequency specific conductance data in nested urban watersheds (∼50% impervious surface cover) in Dead Run, Baltimore County, Maryland. Unlike the importance of antecedent subsurface storage observed in some systems, we found that rainfall depth and not subsurface storage was the primary control on pre-event water proportion in both field observations and hillslope numerical experiments. Field observations showed that antecedent stream base flow did not affect pre-event water proportion or streamflow values under storm conditions. Hillslope model results showed that the relationship between streamflow values under storm conditions and subsurface storage was clockwise hysteretic. The simple dynamical systems approach showed that stream base flow in the most urbanized of three watersheds exhibited the largest sensitivity to changes in storage. This work raises questions about the streamflow generation mechanisms by which pre-event water dominates urban storm hydrographs, and the shifts between mechanisms in rural and urban watersheds.