Geology controls streamflow dynamics

Relating stream dynamics to catchment properties is essential to anticipate the influence of changing environmental conditions and to predict flows of ungauged rivers. Although the importance of subsurface processes in catchment hydrology is widely acknowledged, geological characteristics are rarely explicitly included in studies assessing physiographic controls on catchment dynamics. In this investigation of 22 catchments of the Swiss Plateau and Prealpes, we use a simple linear regression approach to analyze the relationship between streamflow indicators and various geological and hydrogeological properties of the bedrock and quaternary deposits, along with meteorological, soil, land use and topographical characteristics. We use long-term discharge percentiles, as well as dimensionless flow duration curves (FDC, standardized by long-term mean discharge) that allow to evaluate the catchment response to climate forcing. While climate conditions dominate the high to medium discharge percentiles (Q5–Q50), the capacity of the catchments to buffer the meteorological forcing can only be attributed to geological characteristics. The sandstone proportion in the catchments explains 54% of the variance of both extremities of the dimensionless FDC (Q5/Qmean and Q95/Qmean) and productive quaternary deposits are responsible of 55% resp. 58% of the variance of the two ratios. Examining the hydrogeological characteristics of both bedrock and quaternary lithologies considerably improves the understanding of catchment dynamics.